OpenAI has suspended the developer of Dean.Bot, a ChatGPT-powered chatbot designed to impersonate Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips.
The bot was created by “cloning” startup Delphi and was intended to aid Phillips' political activities. However, this move went directly against his OpenAI policies and led to the suspension of the developer responsible.
Despite the Washington Post displaying a disclaimer to visitors explaining the nature of the chatbot, Dean.Bot's purpose is clear: to engage with potential supporters and spread the candidate's message. It was reported that it was.
In response, OpenAI acknowledged the developer's suspension, highlighting the policy violation. The move follows a recent blog post by OpenAI outlining precautions against misuse of its technology, highlighting in particular a ban on “chatbots impersonating candidates” for the 2024 election.
Notably, OpenAI's policy extends beyond this specific case to explicitly state that political campaigning or lobbying applications are not allowed.
In a critical election year, not only in the US but also in other Western democracies like the UK, it is surprising that OpenAI is taking a firm stance against bots seen as interference and spreading misinformation. Not.
In response to inquiries, Delphi initially removed ChatGPT from its bot and continued operations using alternative open source tools. However, the chatbot was finally shut down on Friday night due to OpenAI's intervention.
Visitors to the Dean.Bot website are currently being informed that the chatbot cannot be accessed due to “technical issues” and are shown the message “Sorry, DeanBot is currently in a campaign!”
(Image credit: gage skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0 Certificate license)
See also: OpenAI launches GPT store for custom AI assistants
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