OpenAI suspends bot developer for Congressman Dean Phillips

(Reuters) – Microsoft-backed OpenAI has banned the developer of a bot mimicking Democratic presidential hopeful Congressman Dean Phillips, the first action the ChatGPT maker has taken in response to what it sees as a misuse of its artificial intelligence (AI) tools in a political campaign, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

Dean.Bot, powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT was created by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krisiloff and Jed Somers, who started a super PAC named We Deserve Better supporting Phillips, ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, the report added.

The PAC has received $1 million from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who called it “by far the largest investment I have ever made in someone running for office” in a post on social media platform X.

The super PAC, had contracted with AI start-up Delphi to build the bot. OpenAI suspended Delphi’s account late on Friday, noting that OpenAI’s rules ban the use of its technology in political campaigns. Delphi took down Dean.Bot after the account suspension, the report added.

We Deserve Better did not immediately respond to a request for comment while Delphi could not be immediately reached for comment.

Dean.Bot, which had a disclaimer explaining that it was an AI tool, could converse with voters in real-time through a website, in an early use of an emerging technology that researchers have said could cause significant harm to elections, the Post reported.

Earlier this month, OpenAI emphasized that its policies prohibit its technology from being used in ways it has identified as potentially abusive, such as creating chatbots pretending to be real people, or discouraging voting.