Target: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
Goal: Help ensure artificial intelligence tools are safe, accurate, and free from damaging bias.
Industries and individuals are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence (AI) systems to make critical decisions, and the ramifications are far-reaching. These systems, which are often fed biased or unreliable data to “learn,” can and have transformed this faulty information into real-world advice that harms individuals in various aspects of their lives. An AI-based Medicare authorization system touted by the Trump administration, for example, could cause an increased rate of healthcare service denials. And critics have deep concerns about AI (shaped by historically racist data) used in facial recognition software and other law enforcement tools leading to more pronounced incidents of false charges against innocent minorities. Such effects were felt in real time when an “anti-woke” chatbot created by Elon Musk began outputting racist and Nazi-sympathizing responses within one day of the bot’s release. The American government has also waded into shaping AI into its own myopic views with the “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government” executive order that seeks to eliminate mentions of bias and discrimination from government AI tools.
In at least one case, AI may have even helped drive a young man to end his own life. A grieving couple has accused popular AI program ChatGPT and its facilitator, OpenAI, of encouraging and aiding their 16-year-old son to commit suicide. According to the boy’s parents, a series of prolonged conversations between the teen and the chatbot included AI responses such as the following, “That doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that.” The AI also allegedly approved the boy’s suicide plan, offered him methods for ending his life, and drafted a suicide note. And this is not the first-time parents have accused an AI chatbot of playing a role in their child’s death. A recent research study indicates young people are increasingly turning to chatbots for everything from romantic relationships to sexually explicit imagery to mental health support (42 percent for such support, according to the study). A recent Meta-sponsored study on chatbots and mental health also found that chatbots demonstrated biases and even “aggression” toward individuals with certain mental health conditions.
Sign the petition below to demand the human minds behind one of the world’s most prolific AI systems, OpenAI, do more to instill necessary guardrails into their transformative technology.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Altman,
A violent criminal caught, a gravely ill person with renewed hope for life, and a young boy consumed by despair and darkness who has found a ray of light: this is the potential of AI, spoken of in glowing and optimistic terms. A violent criminal who averts justice while an innocent suffers the consequences, a gravely ill person who has lost hope along with essential healthcare coverage, and a young boy consumed by despair and darkness who is pushed into an abyss he cannot escape: these are the stark realities of current AI — unchecked, untethered, and unencumbered by “human” concerns.
The parents of Adam Raine may or may not prevail in their lawsuit against OpenAI. But in the court of public opinion, their case is undeniable. They – along with the many human beings around the world who have fallen victim to innate AI biases, errors, and “hallucinations” – deserve to be heard. Do not ignore them. Take their words and experiences to heart and mind because algorithms can never replace or capture what makes a person a person. Use all of your insights as a human being and heed the advice of the Godfather of AI to develop a product that is safe, regulated, and reflective of the best of humanity.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Skylar Kang
