OpenAI Against Regulating Smaller Startups in AI Field, Says CEO on India Visit

OpenAI is against regulating smaller startups in the field of artificial intelligence, Sam Altman, Chief Executive of the firm behind ChatGPT, said at a conference in India's New Delhi.

"We have explicitly said there should be no regulation on smaller companies. The only regulation we have called for is on ourselves and people bigger," he said, speaking at an event hosted by national daily Economic Times.

Altman is on a whirlwind tour around the world, meeting heads of states of several countries.

OpenAI has so far raised $10 billion (nearly Rs. 82,620 crore) from Microsoft at a valuation of almost $30 billion (nearly Rs. 2,47,870 crore) as it invests in building computing capacity.

In other news, Dutch privacy watchdog DPA said on Wednesday it is "concerned" about the use of personal data by software makers developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has sent a letter to Microsoft-backed OpenAI seeking more information.

Governments including the European Union are considering how to regulate the technology after OpenAI's ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history.

"The DPA is concerned about how organizations that make use of so-called 'generative' artificial intelligence treat personal information," the agency said.

The agency "will be taking various actions in the future. As a first step we have asked OpenAI by letter to clear up some things about ChatGPT."

DPA said it was seeking information about how the company has gathered the data it used to create its software and how it stores data, including information gleaned from user questions.

Concerns are mounting about potential abuse of the technology and the possibility that bad actors and governments may use it to produce far more disinformation than before.

© Thomson Reuters 2023