OpenAI fixes bug that exposed ChatGPT users’ chat histories

World
By William

According to reports, the titles of the conversations were visible, but the content of other users’ conversations was not.

ChatGPT owner OpenAI says it has fixed a bug that caused a “significant problem” where a small group of users could see the titles of other people’s conversation history with the viral chatbot.

As a result of the fix, users were unable to access their chat history on March 20, Chief Executive Sam Altman said in a tweet Wednesday.

“We had a significant problem in ChatGPT due to a bug in an open source library,” Altman said. “We feel terrible about this.”

An OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg News “the titles were visible in the user history sidebar that usually appears on the left side of the ChatGPT web page… [but] the content of other users’ conversations was not visible”.

Since ChatGPT’s launch, it has experienced rapid growth with millions of people using the software for a variety of activities – from streamlining the coding process or developing architectural designs to how we use search engines, write essays, compose messages, songs, novels and jokes.

Each conversation is automatically saved and ChatGPT labels the tab based on the topic of the initial search.

On Monday, users emphasized that conversations appear in their history, even though they couldn’t see the content.

Altman said the company “will follow up with a tech autopsy.”

Last week, OpenAI, backed by Microsoft Corp., launched its artificial intelligence model GPT-4, an upgrade from GPT-3.5, which was made available to users via ChatGPT on November 30.

The integration of OpenAI’s GPT technology into Microsoft’s Bing has driven people to the little-used search engine, according to data from analytics firm Similarweb.

Last year’s release of ChatGPT has sparked a sprint in the technology sector to get AI into the hands of more users. The hope is to reshape the way people work and win business in the process.

Last week, Google and Microsoft made a flurry of AI announcements two days apart. The companies are putting draft writing technology into their word processors and other collaboration software, as well as marketing-related tools for web developers to build their own AI-based applications.

The rollout of Bard

Google began the public release of its chatbot Bard on Tuesday, seeking users and feedback.

When asked if competitive dynamics were behind Bard’s rollout, Jack Krawczyk, a senior product director, said Google was targeting users. Internal and external testers have turned to Bard for “boosting their productivity, accelerating their ideas, really sparking their curiosity,” he said.

Accuracy remains a concern. Last month, a promotional video showed the program answering a question incorrectly, slashing Alphabet’s market value by $100 billion.

“We know the limitations of the technology, so we want to be very mindful of the pace at which we roll this out,” Krawczyk said.

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