OpenAI Halts Developer's ChatGPT Bot for Dean Phillips

OpenAI has taken action against the use of its AI technology in political campaigns by suspending the account of Delphi, a startup responsible for creating a bot that imitated Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips. The bot, known as Dean.Bot, was built using OpenAI's ChatGPT software by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krisiloff and Jed Somers, who also established a super PAC named We Deserve Better in support of Phillips. This PAC had notably received a $1 million donation from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

The decision to suspend Delphi's account came after a Washington Post article highlighted that OpenAI's policies prohibit the utilization of its technology in political campaign efforts. This marks the first known instance of OpenAI enforcing this rule. The Dean.Bot had been designed to communicate with voters in real time, providing them with information about Phillips' political platform. However, despite potential benefits cited by supporters, such as increased voter engagement, critics have expressed concerns that the AI technology could pose risks to the integrity of elections, even when disclaimers are provided. Following the suspension, the super PAC stated it would shift to other open-source technologies to maintain the bot's functionalities.