Australian mayor threatens defamation suit against ChatGPT-owner OpenAI

(Image: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

An Australian mayor has threatened a defamation suit against OpenAI, alleging that its chatbot, ChatGPT, made some false claims about him, probably the first of its kind action in the generative AI space.

Brian Hood, the mayor of Hepburn Shire, in Australia’s Victoria, has asked OpenAI to correct the offending information given out by the chatbot, news agency Reuters reported.

The development will be closely tracked. OpenAI has in the past said the chatbot is given to errors as well as inaccuracies and even has a disclaimer on its website. If the case goes to court, it will have a larger impact, as concerns have been mounting about the information challenge posed by artificial intelligence.

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ChatGPT claimed that Hood was found guilty in a foreign bribery scandal, which involved a subsidy owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 2000s.

Hood's lawyers said the mayor was working for the subsidiary of the bank and he, in fact, was the individual who reported the bribe to the authorities. Hood has never been charged with any criminal offence, the report said.

Hood's legal team sent OpenAI a letter on March 21, giving them 28 days to correct the information or face a defamation lawsuit.

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"It would potentially be a landmark moment in the sense that it's applying this defamation law to a new area of artificial intelligence and publication in the IT space," said James Naughton, partner at Hood's law firm Gordon Legal.

Naughton said that as an elected official, Hood's reputation was at stake and he relied on a spotless public record during his campaigns.