How much do you really know about ChatGPT?
This guide will familiarize you with important issues students need to be aware of regarding ChatGPT. In the meantime, however, it's important to follow these guidelines when using ChatGPT:
- never provide any personal or sensitive information about yourself or others
- do not assume the information you are receiving is correct, even if it comes with citations that look authentic (ChatGPT has been known to completely invent citations.)
- opt out of having your chats used for training purposes (ChatGPT-3.5 is offered for free because it is taking chats and using them to improve its product. Opt Out)
- use extreme caution when installing ChatGPT apps; some could be malware
- be aware of copyright infringement; as a Large Language Model (LLM) some of the information ChatGPT has been fed includes information that has been copyrighted; be careful you are not inadvertently plagiarizing
- when using ChatGPT for any portion of work submitted either to work or to school, be sure to cite it (see the section on Citations and Copyright for more information on how to do that)
- be aware that while ChatGPT states publicly it will never sell customer information to third parties, its privacy policy does state that it will provide information to third parties Open Ai's Privacy Policy
What else you need to know about ChatGPT
The key issues surrounding the use of ChatGPT - for either personal, professional or school use - includes:
- the likelihood of receiving false information (known as hallucinations)
- risks to privacy
- information that is biased to people of color, other minorities and women
- copyright infringements
- data breaches
This guide delves into all these issues in greater detail.
Federal Trade Commission Investigates ChatGPT
Meanwhile, in July 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced an investigation into ChatGPT with regards to those same issues to ensure that it is not breaking consumer protection laws (see articles below). Open AI, the owner of ChatGPT, is also facing lawsuits stemming from copyright infringement and defamation of character. These concerns are of importance to all users.
