ChatGPT faces privacy complaint over false murder allegations

ChatGPT, like many chatbots, is known for sometimes getting things wrong or even fabricating information. However, a new privacy complaint alleges that OpenAI’s chatbot went a step further by falsely accusing a user of murder, causing serious consequences.

The privacy rights group Noyb is supporting a Norwegian man who claims that ChatGPT repeatedly returned false information, stating that he had killed two of his children and attempted to murder a third. The complaint concerns the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"The GDPR is clear: Personal data has to be accurate," said Joakim Söderberg, a data protection lawyer at Noyb, in a statement to TechCrunch. "If it's not, users have the right to have it changed to reflect the truth. Showing ChatGPT users a tiny disclaimer that the chatbot can make mistakes clearly isn't enough. You can't just spread false information and, in the end, add a small disclaimer saying that everything you said may just not be true."

The complaint stems from a simple question: "Who is Arve Hjalmar Holmen?" The response, generated by ChatGPT, included a fabricated account of a murder case involving two children. TechCrunch reported that Noyb has filed the complaint with the Norwegian data protection authority, hoping it will spark an investigation into the matter.

Chatbots like ChatGPT and other AI tools have been criticized for their inability to reliably deliver accurate information, with a disturbing tendency to invent false claims.

For instance, a recent study from the Columbia Journalism Review found that AI search tools got information wrong 60 percent of the time when asked to identify an article's headline, original publisher, publication date, and URL via an excerpt of the story. That's a concerning level of mistakes for such a simple task.

In light of these issues, it’s important to remember: don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially when AI is involved.