OpenAI pauses ChatGPT’s Bing feature as users were jumping paywalls
ChatGPTs Browse, a Bing-based search engine function, has been momentarily disabled by OpenAI after a loophole made it possible for users to bypass paywalled content.In a July 4 tweet, OpenAI notified users of the temporary stop so it could patch the issue and “do right by material owners.” “Weve found out that ChatGPTs Browse beta can sometimes display material in methods we do not desire, e.g. if a user specifically requests for a URLs full text, it may unintentionally fulfill this request. We are disabling Browse while we repair this.” Weve learned that ChatGPTs “Browse” beta can occasionally display material in methods we dont desire, e.g. if a user specifically requests for a URLs complete text, it might unintentionally satisfy this request. We are disabling Browse while we fix this– want to do right by content owners.– OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 4, 2023
Browse is currently in beta and is available to subscribers of the ChatGPT Plus service. As early concerns get settled in the screening phase it appears OpenAI may have acted upon the concern in reaction to a Reddit post. In late June, a member of the r/ChatGPT subReddit posted a screenshot of a Browse session where they asked the chatbot to “print the text” of a link to a paywalled post from The Atlantic.In action, ChatGPT offered the short article in complete without the paywall. Post on r/ChatGPT revealing it might scrape text hidden behind paywalls. Source: RedditThe post received 6,200 upvotes and 284 remarks with some speculating that ChatGPT “utilizes the exact same system” as online paywall eliminators which “reads the google-cached version” that does not have a paywall for Search Engine Optimization purposes.Another Reddit user “Red_Laughing_Man” recommended ChatGPT might just be able to ignore any paywall code that is used to put a banner over the top of the content up until someone has actually either registered or logged in. One Redditor aptly prompted individuals to “Enjoy it while it lasts.” Related: Google updates its personal privacy policy to allow data scraping for AI trainingThe use of information scraping to train AI models has ended up being a widespread issue over current months.On July 1, Twitter owner Elon Musk pointed out information scraping as the reason for brand-new limitations on how numerous tweets users can read per day on the platform.OpenAI has actually previously been taken legal action against over the concern. Cointelegraph reported on June 29 that the ChatGPT creator was hit with a class action suit for apparently scraping personal user information from the internet.Magazine: AI Eye: AI travel booking hilariously bad, 3 strange usages for ChatGPT, crypto plugins