ChatGPT falsely accuses Mark Walters of fraud, embezzlement
US radio host Mark Walters was wrongly accused by ChatGPT of defrauding and embezzling funds from a non-profit organisation, prompting Walters to sue OpenAI for defamation. Journalist Fred Riehl instrcuted ChatGPT to summarise a real court case filed by gun rights groups against Washington's Attorney General's office accusing officials of 'unconstitutional retaliation. ChatGPT responded by created a false summary of the case that stated that Walters was believed to have misappropriated funds from the Second Amendment Foundation gun rights non-profit - one of the organisations named in the real court case - 'in excess of $5,000,000.' Walters, who had never been accused of fraud or embezzlement, sued OpenAI for libel 'per se'. The move prompted debate on the legal exposure of AI system developers to defamation, and on the legal merits of Walters' case. Hallucination (artificial intelligence) In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a hallucination or artificial hallucination (also called bullshitting, confabulation or delusion) is a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact . Source: Wikipedia System 🤖 ChatGPT Operator: Fred Riehl Developer: Ope nAI Country: USA Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts Purpose: Generate text Technology: Chatbot; Generative AI; Machine learning Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Mis/disinformation Legal, regulatory 👩🏼⚖️ Mark Walters v OpenAI (pdf)
- Date it happened
- 2023-06-01
- Organisation involved
- Fred Riehl
- Product, system or model
- ChatGPT
This incident was imported from AIAAIC and is used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.