Between The Social Reckoning, You Can See Everything, Musk, and Artificial, filmmakers are taking Big Tech to task.
It also demanded documents related to the AI companies’ safety practices, consumer privacy policies, and marketing materials, as part of “a probe focused on potential consumer protection violations,” Axios reports. Its sources also say the FTC “plans to compel top AI executives to testify about their products.”
The funding is part of a $15 million initiative led by the Simons Foundation, with Anthropic also contributing. It follows months of upheaval in the field as AI companies race to solve longstanding problems and comes just over a week after OpenAI dumped hundreds of preprints on the research community.
Shortly after US District Judge Edward Davila said he was “highly likely” to grant Apple’s injunction, OpenAI voluntarily conceded instead. It agreed not to use Apple’s proprietary information for product development while the rest of the lawsuit plays out, and will hand over forensic images of the drives of 14 employees who defected from Apple.
Yesterday, the DOJ and OpenAI revealed that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and former Facebook employee working for OpenAI, has been arrested and charged with installing a recording device behind a TV in an executive conference room.
Now Bloomberg points out court documents showing that the day before he was arrested, prosecutors asked to seal the information, arguing that “the defendant has the means—and will have an incentive—to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested.”
US District Judge Edward Davila said during a hearing on Wednesday that he’s “highly likely” to grant Apple an injunction preventing OpenAI from using proprietary information allegedly shared by the iPhonemaker’s former employees, according to a report from Bloomberg.
At the same time, OpenAI is accusing an ex-employee of taking confidential product plans and presenting them to Apple execs.
A report from Reuters suggests that OpenAI and Anthropic considered tighter restrictions for third-party evaluators over concerns that they could leak trade secrets.
When reached for comment, OpenAI told Reuters that “its standard practice is to redact confidential information” and that evaluators can disclose if it made significant redactions. Anthropic reportedly said that it has “made clear” to existing partners that they can control their own review and publishing process.
It was Reiley’s question for the OpenAI CEO about releasing logs from ChatGPT users who’ve taken their own lives that was nearly interrupted recently. Now she writes that while Altman was “gracious” to answer, she says he chose the wrong one:
Altman claiming the privacy high road is a little rich. Companies like Google, Meta, and now OpenAI earn revenue from advertising that depends on extensive use of personal information. And Altman’s assertion that experts “aren’t sure what to do” is either disingenuous or misinformed. Part of our collective mounting dread is that this technology is far outstripping the ability, access, and time required to study its effects on human beings.
Researchers have been saying loud and clear: We need user data and chatbot interactions to conduct research.
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