An Australian mayor, Brian Hood, is considering legal action against OpenAI, the company that owns the advanced chatbot ChatGPT. Mr. Hood claims that ChatGPT shared false information about him being imprisoned for bribery while working for a subsidiary of Australia’s national bank. He was actually a whistleblower and was never charged with a crime.
Mr. Hood’s lawyers have sent a notice of concern to OpenAI, as a first step in defamation action in Australia. OpenAI has not responded to a request for comment from the BBC. If Mr. Hood pursues legal action, it would be the first time OpenAI has faced a defamation suit over the content created by ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is an OpenAI-owned tool that millions of people have used since its launch in November 2022. It can answer questions using natural, human-like language and can mimic other writing styles. However, it sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. When people use ChatGPT, they are shown a disclaimer warning that the content it generates may contain inaccurate information.
In 2005, Mr. Hood was company secretary of Notes Printing Australia, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia. He blew the whistle on bribery taking place at the organization linked to a business called Securency, which was part-owned by the bank. Securency was raided by police in 2010, ultimately leading to arrests and prison sentences worldwide. However, Mr. Hood was not one of those arrested.
Mr. Hood was horrified to see what ChatGPT was telling people about him. The publicly available version of ChatGPT on OpenAI’s website inaccurately stated that Mr. Hood pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in 2012 and was sentenced to four years in prison. However, the newer version of ChatGPT integrated into Microsoft’s Bing search engine correctly identifies him as a whistleblower and specifically states that he was not involved in the payment of bribes.