OpenAI Suspends Developer for Dean.Bot

OpenAI has suspended the developer responsible for Dean.Bot, a ChatGPT-powered chatbot designed to impersonate Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips.

Background

• Dean.Bot was created to support Phillips in his political campaign.
• The bot was created by “cloning” startup Delphi.

Violation of Policies

The move directly contradicts OpenAI’s policies, leading to the suspension of the responsible developer. OpenAI’s recent blog post outlined preventive measures against the misuse of its technology, prohibiting “chatbots impersonating candidates” in the lead-up to the 2024 elections.

OpenAI Policies

OpenAI explicitly states that applications for political campaigning and lobbying are not permitted.

Reasoning

In a crucial election year in multiple Western democracies, OpenAI is taking a firm stance against bots that could be seen to interfere and/or spread misinformation.

Response

In response to the inquiry, Delphi initially removed ChatGPT from the bot and continued its operation using alternative open-source tools. However, OpenAI’s intervention prompted the ultimate suspension of the chatbot on Friday night.

Visitors to the Dean.Bot website are now told the chatbot is inaccessible due to “technical difficulties,” alongside a message that reads, “Apologies, DeanBot is away campaigning right now!”

See also:

OpenAI launches GPT Store for custom AI assistants.

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Tags

2024 elections, america, chatbot, chatgpt, dean phillips, dean.bot, democracy, democratic, democrats, ethics, openai, politics, society, united states, us elections, usa