If you have been on the internet at all over the past couple of months, you have most probably heard about ChatGPT. One of the most advanced pieces of AI tech on the planet, ChatGPT, is quickly taking over the world.
However, Italy has already banned its use, and other countries are also looking into its legality. Why has Italy banned such an impressive system? And what other problems are ChatGPT facing?
What is ChatGPT?
If you want to know more about AI, the best place to start is ChatGPT. In simple terms, ChatGPT is a word-processing tool powered by AI. This means you can have humanlike conversations with the system and have questions answered in the same way a human would.
This is a massive step forward in AI, as the “human touch” aspect has been lacking for years. ChatGPT can sound human, and most people can’t tell the difference between a paragraph created by it and one created by a person.
Why Italy banned ChatGPT
While Italy isn’t wholly against technological advancement, it quickly realized that ChatGPT threatened personal privacy and data, stating four main reasons for banning its use.
No age guidelines
The first issue is that no age restrictions or guidelines exist, meaning children can use and share data using the tool. Italy also showed high disapproval of the fact that parental consent was not needed to use the tool.
It provides false or untrue information
Another big problem was that ChatGPT was providing outright untrue information about people. There is a distrust of the information provided as there are many examples of ChatGPT simply lying about a person.
This also extends beyond personal information, as ChatGPT has been shown to be incapable of solving simple logic puzzles. When it does provide an answer, even if it is wrong, it won’t change it. This becomes a different problem when you think you have been provided incorrect information, but ChatGPT seemingly doubles down.
No disclosure of data collection
In a climate where data privacy and security are at the top of many people’s agendas, not disclosing data collection is a big no-no in the eyes of many. ChatGPT doesn’t disclose which or how much data is collected.
No legal basis for data collection
Another massive problem is that there are no laws surrounding ChatGPT or how it can collect and share data. Similar to the problems facing cryptocurrencies, most countries will choose to ban something if there is no legal precedent or laws surrounding it and its use.
Other problems with ChatGPT
Beyond Italy’s reasons to ban ChatGPT, there are several other ethical issues facing the tool that are causing a lot of problems for governments and many types of institutions.
It can be used to create false documents
Another major ethical issue is that ChatGPT can be used to create everything from a blog post about a particular red win to essays and dissertations used for college degrees and exams.
Just recently, it was shown that ChatGPT could not only pass the bar exam but also score high enough to be in the top 10%.
Human job security
Job security is another hot topic related to ChatGPT, and many worry that it can replace far more jobs than we might have originally thought. If you have a program that can do and provide so much and only needs one operator, the possibilities are endless.
At the moment, combining ChatGPT with automation could replace jobs such as data entry, coding, accounting, media and other communication-based jobs.
It can spread fake news
ChatGPT has the very real capabilities of being able to create, verify and spread fake news and false information. Right now, if you hear a rumor or a story, you can simply google it, and after 10 or 15 seconds of searching, you will find out it is fake.
With ChatGPT, not only can it create fake news, but then also create dozens, if not hundreds, of new “sources” that will verify the fake news.
Training biases
Another problem is that there have been explicit training biases instilled in ChatGPT. These biases include discrimination based on gender, age, race and other factors that make humans different.
While people like Elon Musk have wrongly claimed that ChatGPT is “woke,” it has proven to be the complete opposite in many aspects. Training bias is also exacerbated by the fact that someone still controls ChatGPT.
While it is an AI program, ChatGPT still has humans controlling what it can and can’t do, and until we know that those humans don’t have any harmful biases, there is no way to know that ChatGPT doesn’t have them.