SYDNEY – An Australian mayor said he may sue OpenAI if it does not correct ChatGPT’s false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery, in what would be the first defamation lawsuit against the automated text service.
Mr Brian Hood, who was elected mayor of Hepburn Shire, 120km north-west of Melbourne, in November 2022, became concerned about his reputation when members of the public told him ChatGPT had falsely named him as a guilty party in a foreign bribery scandal involving a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 2000s.
Mr Hood did work for the subsidiary, Note Printing Australia, but was the person who notified the authorities about payment of bribes to foreign officials to win currency printing contracts, and was never charged with a crime, lawyers representing him said.
The lawyers said they sent a letter of concern to ChatGPT owner OpenAI on March 21, which gave OpenAI 28 days to fix the errors about their client or face a possible defamation lawsuit.
OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, had not yet responded to Mr Hood’s legal letter, the lawyers said.
OpenAI did not respond to a Reuters e-mail sent out of business hours.
If Mr Hood sues, it would likely be the first time a person has sued the owner of ChatGPT for claims made by the automated language product, which has become wildly popular since its launch in 2022.
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