Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

How the authoritarian Middle East became the capital of Silicon Valley

These four searches show how Google is changing

OpenAI wants users to act natural around ChatGPT

Biden once nearly died of an aneurysm. Risky surgery changed his life.

Election 2024 latest news: Primary elections today in Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia

Michael Cohen outlined a crime. Did he prove that Trump committed one?

The wacky, grueling bike race that captivates a Midwest college town

Biodegradable fabric might be the next best thing in clothing

Are home prices still rising? See how prices have changed in your area.

Can you spot bad financial advice on TikTok? Take our quiz.

5 myths about Social Security as the program faces a funding crisis

Social Security has to be fixed. But you still need your own savings.

Haiti’s plight is a case study in the ‘responsibility to protect’

No, Apple, people do not want tech to crush everything in its path 

The urgent air defense lessons of April 16 

Ted Leonsis remains interested in buying the Nationals

Senator will block RFK site bill unless team honors family of logo creator

Nationals-White Sox rained out; Josiah Gray edges closer to return

Woman who punched crocodile to save twin awarded medal by King Charles

Trade pact would be a bonanza for Africa — if it can be made to work

14 dead after massive billboard in Mumbai collapses on gas station

Tired of overcrowded national parks? Here’s how to go backcountry camping.

Pete Buttigieg’s view from the middle seat

Airlines are trying to stop Biden from enforcing ‘junk fees’ rule

Ask Amy: What if the mysterious mourner at my dad’s memorial is my brother? 

Miss Manners: My relative’s memoir was poorly written and boring

Carolyn Hax: Is it ‘charming’ to stage a surprise wedding at a family reunion?

Man, 91, shocks tiny firehouse with $500K gift: ‘Nobody knew how much I’d saved’

Retired cop meets abandoned baby he helped 23 years ago: ‘What are the odds?’

I used to dismiss my mom’s advice. Then I found a note she wrote before she died.  

Election 2024: Primary elections in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia

Angela Alsobrooks and David Trone are Democratic primary candidates for the US Senate seat in Maryland

Big Tech news and how to take control of your data and devices

See more coverage in your recommendations

Technology

Tips delivered to your inbox twice weekly

The Tech Friend newsletter

Business and Tech alerts

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Matt McClain

The artificial intelligence company OpenAI banned the developer of a bot mimicking long shot Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips — the first action that the maker of ChatGPT has taken in response to what it sees as a misuse of its AI tools in a political campaign.

Dean. Bot was the brainchild of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krisiloff and Jed Somers, who had started a super PAC supporting Phillips (Minn.) ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. The PAC had received $1 million from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, the billionaire activist who led the charge to oust Harvard University president Claudine Gay.

The bot was powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT conversational software, which the company has made available to outside developers.

The super PAC, called We Deserve Better, had contracted with AI start-up Delphi to build the bot. OpenAI suspended Delphi’s account late Friday in response to a Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/01/18/ai-tech-biden/" target=_blank>story</a> on the SuperPAC, noting that OpenAI’s rules ban the use of its technology in political campaigns. Delphi took down Dean. Bot after the account suspension.

“Anyone who builds with our tools must follow our usage policies,” OpenAI spokeswoman Lindsey Held said in a statement. “We recently removed a developer account that was knowingly violating our API usage policies which disallow political campaigning, or impersonating an individual without consent.”

Delphi co-founder Dara Ladjevardian told The Post on Monday that the company “incorrectly” believed that OpenAI’s terms of service would let “a political action committee that supports Dean Phillips create a clone of him using our platform.”

The start-up “did not understand that … [the super PAC] may not and did not coordinate with or seek permission from candidates they are supporting,” Ladjevardian said, adding that he had refunded the super PAC and updated the company’s terms of service to ban engagement with political campaigns.

Dean. Bot, which could converse with voters in real-time through a website, was an early use of an emerging technology that researchers have said could cause significant harm to elections.

The bot included a disclaimer explaining that it was an AI tool and not the real Dean Phillips, and required that voters consent to its use. But researchers told The Post that such technologies could lull people into accepting a dangerous tool, even when disclaimers are in place.

Proponents, including We Deserve Better, argue that the bots, when used appropriately, can educate voters by giving them an entertaining way to learn more about a candidate.

Without disclaimers, experts have said, the technologies could enable mass robocalls to voters who think they’re talking to actual candidates or supporters. AI systems can also produce disinformation in ads or content, such as fake websites, at scale.

OpenAI won't let politicians use its tech for campaigning

After The Post asked We Deserve Better about OpenAI’s prohibitions on Thursday, Krisiloff said he had asked Delphi to remove ChatGPT from the bot and instead rely on open source technologies that also offer conversational capabilities that had gone into the bot’s design.

The bot remained available to the public without ChatGPT until late Friday, when Delphi took the bot down in response to the suspension, Krisiloff said.

Krisiloff did not have further comment. Delphi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Krisiloff is a former chief of staff to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman has met with Phillips but has no involvement in the super PAC, Krisiloff said.

Winner of the 2017 Overseas Press Club Bob Considine Award for "Behind the Firewall" Series on Silicon Valley China

 2010 Finalist, Livingston Award for Young Journalists

 2009 Finalist, Livingston Award for Young Journalists 

Columbia University, BA. 

Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, MS.

Lizza joined The Washington Post as Silicon Valley correspondent in 2016, becoming the paper's eyes and ears in the region. She focuses on social media and the power of the tech industry in a democratic society. Before that, she was the Wall Street Journal's first full-time beat reporter covering AI and the impact of algorithms on people's lives. 

Elizabeth Dwoskin

washpost

OpenAI bans developer of Dean Phillips bot

the-washington-post

U.S. Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN) - Hanover, NH

The Washington Post

Live updates

Md. primary

Neb. primary

W. Va. primary

Key issues

2024 calendar

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Elections

prism://prism.query/two-sites,/technology,/politics/powerpost/the-technology-202?limit=20

prism://prism.query/elections-feed-with-transparency-labels,News,Analysis,Perspective,Advice,Opinion/&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

News about the 2024 election, plus video and opinions.

prism://prism.query/todays-articles-by-subtype-and-section,live-all,/elections,[now-4h+TO+now]/?limit=1