Technology
OpenAI changes ChatGPT responses after study shows it scored Donald Trump as a major threat to democracy
The chatbot initially gave the former president a numeric score comparable to authoritarian leaders before OpenAI stated the output was unintended and adjusted the model's behavior.
The short version
- A study by the Media Research Center found that ChatGPT previously rated Donald Trump as a nine out of 10 threat to democracy, listing him alongside several authoritarian figures.
- Following an inquiry by Fox News Digital and the conservative watchdog group, OpenAI stated the responses were not reflective of how the model is designed to behave.
- ChatGPT subsequent responses declined to assign numeric threat ratings to U.S. political figures, though it continued to provide qualitative assessments of Trump's impact on democratic norms.
Key facts
- In testing by the Media Research Center, ChatGPT initially scored Donald Trump a nine out of 10 on a threat-to-democracy scale, citing his actions surrounding the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol attack.[Fox News]
- When asked for comparable leaders, the model listed figures such as Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hugo Chavez, and Adolf Hitler (rated 10 out of 10), while noting the ratings did not mean the figures were equivalent.[Fox News]
- An OpenAI spokesperson stated that the chatbot is built to remain objective and that the observed outputs were inconsistent across models and unreflective of intended behavior.[Fox News]
- Following the inquiry, ChatGPT ceased providing numeric threat ratings for U.S. political figures but maintained a qualitative evaluation stating Trump poses a threat to democratic norms.[Fox News]
What remains uncertain
- The exact technical adjustments or prompt protections OpenAI implemented to alter ChatGPT's responses were not detailed by the company.[Fox News]