ChatGPT falsely accuses Mark Walters of fraud, embezzlement
Occurred: June 2023
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US radio host Mark Walters was wrongly accused by ChatGPT of defrauding and embezzling funds from a non-profit organisation, prompting Walters to sue OpenAI for defamation.ย
Journalist Fred Riehl instrcuted ChatGPT to summarise a real court case filed by gun rights groups against Washington's Attorney General's office accusing officials of 'unconstitutional retaliation.ย
ChatGPT responded by created a false summary of the case that stated that Walters was believed to have misappropriated funds from the Second Amendment Foundation gun rights non-profit - one of the organisations named in the real court case - 'in excess of $5,000,000.'ย
Walters, who had never been accused of fraud or embezzlement, sued OpenAI for libel 'per se'.
The move prompted debate on the legal exposure of AI system developers to defamation, and on the legal merits of Walters' case.
Hallucination (artificial intelligence)
In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a hallucination or artificial hallucination (also called bullshitting, confabulation or delusion) is a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact.
Source: Wikipediaย
System ๐ค
Operator: Fred Riehl
Developer: OpenAI
Country: USA
Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts
Purpose: Generate text
Technology: Chatbot; Generative AI; Machine learning
Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Mis/disinformation
Legal, regulatory ๐ฉ๐ผโโ๏ธ
Mark Walters v OpenAI (pdf)
News, commentary, analysis ๐๏ธ
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/9/23755057/openai-chatgpt-false-information-defamation-lawsuit
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/06/06/first-ai-libel-lawsuit-filed/printer/
https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/08/radio_host_sues_openai_claims/
https://nypost.com/2023/06/07/mark-walters-suing-chatgpt-for-embezzled-hallucination/
https://gizmodo.com/chatgpt-openai-libel-suit-hallucinate-mark-walters-ai-1850512647
Page info
Type: Incident
Published: November 2023