Ethical Uses of AI

In the modern age of globalization and interconnectedness, many people have become aware of the importance of investigating what the companies they support, in turn support themselves.  Recently, many people have choosen not to patronize companies whose views do not align with their own.

Many of Silicon Valley's power players, including ChatGPT maker OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, have expressed support for Longtermist philosophies.  "Longtermism," which should not be confused for mere long-term thinking, is a fringe philosophical belief about the future of humanity.

RESOURCES:

• Longtermism poses a real threat to humanity
  The New Statesman, August 3, 2023
  "Longtermism is the brainchild of . . . a group of highly privileged white men, based at elite universities, who have come to believe that they know what’s best for humanity as a whole.
• Don’t Go Down That AI Longtermism Rabbit Hole
  Bloomberg, May 18, 2023
  Silicon Valley is fixated on longtermism — prioritizing future lives over those living today. This is very tricky moral math.
• Effective Altruism Is Pushing a Dangerous Brand of ‘AI Safety’
  WIRED, November 20, 2022
  This philosophy—supported by tech figures like Sam Bankman-Fried—fuels the AI research agenda, creating a harmful system in the name of saving humanity.
• Silicon Valley’s vision for AI? It’s religion, repackaged.
  Vox, September 7, 2023
  It’s no accident — the intertwining of religion and technology is centuries old.
• Against Longtermism
  Aeon, October 19, 2021
  It started as a fringe philosophical theory about humanity’s future. It’s now richly funded and increasingly dangerous.

ChatGPT's Terms of Service allow the company to use any and all data entered as prompts to the tool, unless 'incognito mode' is activated.  OpenAI is currently being investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in part for potential privacy violations. Users should avoid entering any personally identifiable information in a ChatGPT prompt, as well as financial information. 

See 5 Things You Must Not Share With AI Chatbots.

RESOURCES

• F.T.C. Opens Investigation Into ChatGPT Maker Over Technology’s Potential Harms
  New York Times, July 13, 2023
  "The F.T.C. is examining whether OpenAI “engaged in unfair or deceptive privacy or data security practices or engaged in unfair or deceptive practices relating to risks of harm to consumers.”
• Creator of buzzy ChatGPT is sued for vacuuming up ‘vast amounts’ of private data to win the ‘A.I. arms race’
  Fortune, June 28, 2023
  "OpenAI, which is at the forefront of the burgeoning industry, is accused in the suit of conducting an enormous clandestine web-scraping operation, violating terms of service agreements and state and federal privacy and property laws."
• OpenAI, Microsoft hit with new US consumer privacy class action
  Reuters, September 6, 2023
  ChatGPT maker accused of misusing personal data in AI training.
• ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare, and we ought to be concerned
  Ars Technica, February 8, 2023
  ChatGPT's extensive language model is fueled by our personal data.
• ChatGPT is temporarily banned in Italy amid an investigation into data collection
  NPR, March 31, 2023
  The agency questioned OpenAI's data collection practices and whether the breadth of data being retained is legal. The agency also took issue with the lack of an age verification system to prevent minors from being exposed to inappropriate answers.

An often-overlooked concern is the environmental impact of generative AI tools.  The huge amount of computing power needed to generate predictive text or images with AI tools necessitates a huge amount of energy and water-- much more so than a traditional search.  In fact, researchers have estimated that just 5 ChatGPT prompts uses 16oz. of water and each individual prompt consumes energy equivalent to running a 5 watt LED bulb for more than 1 hour.  This is about 15 times the resource use of a Google search.

RESOURCES

• The Green Dilemma: Can AI Fulfil Its Potential Without Harming the Environment?
  Earth.org, July 18, 2023
  As datasets and models become more complex, the energy needed to train and run AI models becomes enormous. This increase in energy use directly affects greenhouse gas emissions, aggravating climate change. According to Open AI researchers, since 2012, the amount of computing power required to train cutting-edge AI models has doubled every 3.4 months.
• Artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT was built in Iowa — with a lot of water
  Associated Press, September 9, 2023
  In its latest environmental report, Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools), a sharp increase compared to previous years.
• Turns out there’s another problem with AI – its environmental toll
  The Guardian, August 1, 2023
  AI uses huge amounts of electricity and water to work, and the problem is only going to get worse – what can be done?
• Some experts see AI as a tool against climate change. Others say its own carbon footprint could be a problem.
  CBS News, August 26, 2023
  As the use of artificial intelligence grows and societies ponder how to use the powerful tool to improve our lives, increase productivity and tackle our most pressing challenges, few have considered its effects on the environment.

One of the primary concerns about text generators is that they are known to produce inaccurate information.  Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT cannot tell fact from fiction, sometimes giving incorrect answers or nonexistent sources.  This is sometimes called 'hallucinating,' though some researchers feel this term inappropriately anthropomorphizes AI models, which is a concern itself. Often the innaccuracies produced by ChatGPT are harmless, but sometimes they have real-world negative or dangerous consequences.  ChatGPT maker OpenAI is currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, in part because of concerns over harmful inaccuracies produced by the text generator.

Students should be reminded that the onus is always on the end user to verify any and all information that comes from a text generator.

RESOURCES

• Chatbots May ‘Hallucinate’ More Often Than Many Realize
  New York Times, November 6, 2023
  "With this research, Dr. Hughes and Mr. Awadallah want to show people that they must be wary of information that comes from chatbots."
• Why ChatGPT and Bing Chat are so good at making things up
  Ars Technica, April 6, 2023
  A look inside the hallucinating artificial minds of the famous text prediction bots.
• Mushroom pickers urged to avoid foraging books on Amazon that appear to be written by AI
  The Guardian, September 1, 2023
  Sample of books scored 100% on AI detection test as experts warn they contain dangerous advice
• A New Frontier for Travel Scammers: A.I.-Generated Guidebooks
  New York Times, August 5, 2023
  Shoddy guidebooks, promoted with deceptive reviews, have flooded Amazon in recent months.  Their authors claim to be renowned travel writers. But do they even exist? Or are they A.I. inventions?
• FTC investigates OpenAI over data leak and ChatGPT’s inaccuracy
  The Washington Post, July 13, 2023
  The agency’s demand for OpenAI’s documents marks the company’s greatest U.S. regulatory threat to date
• ChatGPT falsely told voters their mayor was jailed for bribery. He may sue.
  The Washington Post, April 6, 2023
  The case is the latest example on a growing list of AI chatbots publishing lies about real people.
• No, ChatGPT Can't Be Your New Research Assistant
  Chronicle of Higher Education, August 23, 2023
  Just look at what happens when use it to find sources.
• ChatGPT ‘hallucinates.’ Some researchers worry it isn’t fixable.
  The Washington Post, May 30, 2023
  Big Tech is pushing AI out to millions of people. But the tech still routinely makes up false answers to simple questions.

It is necessary to use human-created content for training, as training LLMs on synthetic media (e.g., text or images created by generative AI tools) leads to model collapse.  Most generative AI tools are trained on massive amounts of copyright-protected text, usually without permission or compensation.  Currently, there are numerous open lawsuits against ChatGPT maker OpenAI and other generative AI companies for copyright infringement, including from prominent authors, publications, and artists.  Companies have argued the LLM training falls under 'fair use,' but given the extant and predicted effects on the marketplace and the commercial nature of OpenAI's business model, this claim is questionable. 

Please note that entering copyrighted work into ChatGPT prompts (including your students' work) may infringe on intellectual property rights. 

RESOURCES

• How AI copyright lawsuits could make the whole industry go extinct
  The Verge, February 15, 2024
  Deep-dive podcast into the four factors of Fair Use and how they apply-- or don't-- to large language models.
• We Asked A.I. to Create the Joker. It Generated a Copyrighted Image.
  New York Times, January 25, 2024
  “This is a Band-Aid on a bleeding wound,” Professor Conrad said of the safeguards implemented by OpenAI and others. “This isn’t going to be fixed easily just with a guardrail.”
• Silicon Valley’s Big A.I. Dreams Are Headed for a Copyright Crash
  New Republic, November 15, 2023
  The tech industry thought that the legal issues over their shiny new toys were a settled matter. They thought wrong.
• Franzen, Grisham and Other Prominent Authors Sue OpenAI
  New York Times, September 20, 2023
  The suit, filed with the Authors Guild, accuses the A.I. company of infringing on authors’ copyrights, claiming it used their books to train its ChatGPT chatbot.
• 'New York Times' considers legal action against OpenAI as copyright tensions swirl
  NPR, August 16, 2023
  So-called large language models like ChatGPT have scraped vast parts of the internet to assemble data that inform how the chatbot responds to various inquiries. The data-mining is conducted without permission. Whether hoovering up this massive repository is legal remains an open question.
• ‘Not for Machines to Harvest’: Data Revolts Break Out Against A.I.
  New York Times, July 15, 2023
  Fed up with A.I. companies consuming online content without consent, fan fiction writers, actors, social media companies and news organizations are among those rebelling.
• Revealed: The Authors Whose Pirated Books are Powering Generative AI
  The Atlantic, August 19, 2023
  Stephen King, Zadie Smith, and Michael Pollan are among thousands of writers whose copyrighted works are being used to train large language models.
• Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart
  The Washington Post, April 19, 2023
  "The Post’s analysis suggests more legal challenges may be on the way: The copyright symbol — which denotes a work registered as intellectual property — appears more than 200 million times in the C4 data set."
• More than 10,000 Authors Sign Authors Guild Letter Calling on AI Industry Leaders to Protect Writers
  Author's Guild, July 18, 2023
  "The letter calls attention to the inherent injustice of building lucrative generative AI technologies using copyrighted works and asks AI developers to obtain consent from, credit, and fairly compensate authors."
• Amazon removes books ‘generated by AI’ for sale under author’s name
  The Guardian, August 9, 2023
  Jane Friedman claims she had to fight against Amazon’s refusal to remove the misattributed titles because she had not trademarked her name

More on Model Collapse:

• AI Is an Existential Threat to Itself
  The Atlantic, June 23, 2023
  Generative-AI programs may eventually consume material that was created by other machines—with disastrous consequences.
• Research finds ChatGPT & Bard headed for 'Model Collapse'
  AI Magazine, June 20, 2023
  Irreversible defects, degeneration and Model Collapse found in Large Language Models such as ChatGPT due to mountainous copies of data: Ticking time-bombs

Even before the advent of ChatGPT, AI tools had well-documented problems with bias.  Generative AI models often perpetuate the biases found in the training data, and training data often includes text from some of the worst corners of the internet.

RESOURCES

• Federal regulators call AI discrimination a ‘new civil rights frontier’
  The Washington Post, April 25, 2023
  Officials from multiple federal agencies say they are committed to enforcing existing civil rights laws against AI systems that perpetuate bias.
• ChatGPT could be used for good, but like many other AI models, it's rife with racist and discriminatory bias
  Insider, January 16, 2023
  ChatGPT, the latest language learning model released by OpenAI, has become a viral sensation.  However, like many AI models before it, bias can be found in its output.  Researchers warn its real-world applications could spell trouble for marginalized groups.
• ChatGPT is as biased as we are
  Medium, June 13, 2023
  "Chat GPT receives data from websites such as Reddit and Twitter. As a result, it is more likely that the voices of those who support dominant points of view will be preserved."
• ChatGPT and large language model bias
  CBS News, March 5, 2023
  "ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can make users think they are talking to a human, is the newest technology taking the internet by storm. It is also the latest example of the potential for bias inherent in some AI. "
• Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart
  The Washington Post, April 19, 2023
  "[W]e found several media outlets that rank low on NewsGuard’s independent scale for trustworthiness: RT.com, the Russian state-backed propaganda site; breitbart.com, a well-known source for far-right news and opinion; and vdare.com, an anti-immigration site that has been associated with white supremacy."

It's easy to think of generative text tools like ChatGPT as totally machine-based, but a vast amount of human labor is needed to ensure it works correctly.  The data annotation and content moderation that enables LLMs to function as desired is mostly done by underpaid freelancers in the Global South.  Sometimes, they must view and label the very worst internet content, including sexual violence and child pornography.

RESOURCES

• Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’
  The Washington Post, August 28, 2023
  "While AI is often thought of as human-free machine learning, the technology actually relies on the labor-intensive efforts of a workforce spread across much of the Global South and often subject to exploitation."
• OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic
  Time, January 18, 2023
  "For all its glamor, AI often relies on hidden human labor in the Global South that can often be damaging and exploitative."
• ‘It’s destroyed me completely’: Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI models
  The Guardian, August 2, 2023
  Employees describe the psychological trauma of reading and viewing graphic content, low pay and abrupt dismissals.
• ChatGPT and the sweatshops powering the digital age
  Al Jazeera, January 23, 2023
  The latest ChatGPT revelations are yet another reminder of the pervasive labour exploitation in digital innovation.
• ChatGPT Is a Bullshit Generator Waging Class War
  VICE News, February 9, 2023
  ChatGPT isn't really new but simply an iteration of the class war that's been waged since the start of the industrial revolution.
• AI one-percenters seizing power forever is the real doomsday scenario, warns AI godfather
  Business Insider, October 30, 2023
  An AI godfather has had it with the doomsdayers. The naysaying is actually about keeping control of AI in the hands of a few, he said.

A big worry about generative text tools is their potential to be used by bad actors to mislead, deceive, and generate spam and phishing attempts on a massive scale. ChatGPT and other generative tools are already being used to create and spread propoganda, spam, disinformation, and conspiracy theories.

RESOURCES

• AI chatbots making it harder to spot phishing emails, say experts
  The Guardian, March 29, 2023
  Poor spelling and grammar that can help identify fraudulent attacks being rectified by artificial intelligence
• AI doomsday warnings a distraction from the danger it already poses, warns expert
  The Guardian, October 29, 2023
  A leading researcher, who will attend this week’s AI safety summit in London, warns of ‘real threat to the public conversation’
• Brace Yourself for a Tidal Wave of ChatGPT Email Scams
  WIRED, April 4, 2023
  Thanks to large language models, a single scammer can run hundreds or thousands of cons in parallel, night and day, in every language under the sun.
• Disinformation Researchers Raise Alarms About A.I. Chatbots
  New York Times, February 8, 2023
  Researchers used ChatGPT to produce clean, convincing text that repeated conspiracy theories and misleading narratives.
• Elections in UK and US at risk from AI-driven disinformation, say experts
  The Guardian, May 20, 2023
  False news stories, images, video and audio could be tailored to audiences and created at scale by next spring
• Brace Yourself for the 2024 Deepfake Election
  WIRED, April 27, 2023
  No matter what happens with generative AI, its disruptive forces are already beginning to play a role in the fast-approaching US presidential race.
• Could AI swamp social media with fake accounts?
  BBC News, February 14, 2023
  Academics, cybersecurity researchers and AI experts warn that ChatGPT could be used by bad actors to sow dissent and spread propaganda on social media.