OpenAI has taken down another chatbot impersonating one of the presidential candidates as part of its ongoing efforts to prevent impersonators of political figures populate the GPT platform ahead of the 2024 US Elections.
The Wired reported on Sunday that the chatbot used by independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign suddenly disappeared online.
The chatbot has been reported before for affirming Kennedy's conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine sentiments, a clear violation of OpenAI's policies against disinformation.
According to the report, Kennedy's campaign chatbot was able to stay afloat for so long thanks to a loophole via a third-party service between OpenAI and Microsoft.
The chatbot supposedly used Microsoft's Azure OpenAI through the third-party platform LiveChatAI, allowing the campaign team to get over OpenAI's rules on political use.
A representative of Kennedy's team told Wired that they only used the chatbot as an "interactive FAQ" to help supporters in "sourcing the information they need on the fly."
OpenAI and Microsoft have long warned users to not use their chatbots as a primary source of information due to their tendencies to "hallucinate" details.
Also Read: OpenAI Bans Political Chatbot Developer for Mimicking Presidential Candidate
OpenAI Cracks Down on Political Abuse of ChatGPT
This marks the second time a chatbot from a US presidential candidate has been taken down as OpenAI implements more rules on its products concerning political campaigns.
Just earlier this year, OpenAI removed a GPT chatbot impersonating Minnesota 3rd District Rep. Dean Philips, another presidential candidate.
While Philips denied involvement in the chatbot, the AI was commissioned by one of the super PACs that supported Philips' campaign.
The AI firm has already promised to impose stricter guidelines on its other AI products ahead of the election period to prevent bad actors from using their technology to spread political misinformation.
Related Article: OpenAI to Prevent People from Using AI for 2024 Elections Disinformation
Kennedy Enters Presidential Bid with Online Campaign
The chatbot is only one of the numerous online campaign methods Kennedy's team has employed as part of his election run.
It can be remembered that an ad for Kennedy's campaign was recently shown during the Super Bowl LVIII, featuring a clip reminiscent of the campaign videos former President John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Jr.'s uncle, used in 1960.
Kennedy denied commissioning the Super Bowl ad but still temporarily pinned the video on his X (formerly Twitter) page.
Kennedy, along with US President Joe Biden, has been noted to rolled out massive online campaigns across different platforms and social media as part of their bid for presidency.
