How to Get Banned From ChatGPT: Violations to Avoid

On November 30, 2022, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT to huge buzz and great fanfare. Although many tech professionals predicted this new interface, its potential has exploded and seems limitless. ChatGPT, a GPT-4 (Generated Pre-trained Transformer 4) AI conversational language processor, may prove to transform the face of technology and many other professional sectors. 

Thus, staying in the good graces of the OpenAI Terms of Use is important. We’ll look at the history and future of this new highly-capable chatbot, and how you can get banned from using ChatGPT.          

The history of OpenAI and the invention of ChatGPT

OpenAI began in 2015 as a startup technological research company with a focus on developing cutting-edge yet friendly AI. Thankfully, OpenAI doesn’t have a supervillain mission statement to destroy mankind. 

Rather, the company, which included Sam Altman (co-founder and current CEO of OpenAI) and Elon Musk among the collaborators in its earliest ventures, understands how AI can help better society.

OpenAI’s goal is to develop interactive GPT tech to empower people and help diminish the time we spend on miniscule tasks. By creating autonomous AI, the company hopes to enable people in every professional sector to focus on the big picture, and allow GPT to take care of time-consuming, smaller endeavors.

ChatGPT

In 2018, OpenAI unveiled the concept of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT). The company’s new technology mimics the structural functions of the human brain. Its input and training comes from human engineers. However the newest version of GPT, ChatGPT-4, can also teach itself based on the input it has already received.

For example, on March 26, 2023, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) claimed on Twitter that ChatGPT wasn’t programmed for advanced chemistry, but learned it nonetheless. 

ChatGPT differs from the versions before it, which were already significantly mind-blowing. For instance, DALL-E (the GPT built after GPT-2), could create photo-like images which are hard to differentiate from authentic photos. ChatGPT understands context — it can tailor its answers to your questions based on your conversation and search histories.  

The ChatGPT application and its technology continue to evolve at a rapid rate.

How to get banned from ChatGPT

Although ChatGPT is still in its infancy, OpenAI has put some protective parameters in place. A lack of adherence to policies and procedures could get you banned from ChatGPT. 

Some of the ways you could get banned from ChatGPT include creating or sharing:

• Adult content: Don’t use ChatGPT to create or locate adult content, and you’re in the clear.
• Fraud or fraudulent content: This can get a bit murky, as glitches surrounding the spread of disinformation exist in ChatGPT. However, if you’re blatantly using ChatGPT to commit fraud or share sourced content from fraudulent websites, you may get banned.
• Illegal activity: This is kind of a no-brainer. Don’t use ChatGPT to commit crimes. Period. You will be banned from the tool and could face criminal charges.
• Violent content: If you share content depicting violent acts such as murder or rape, you’ll get banned. This rule goes for any credible, safe online space.
• Violation of the OpenAI Terms of Use: We’ll expand on this below, but to avoid getting banned, read over the OpenAI Terms of Use before you use ChatGPT. 

OpenAI’s Terms of Use

As ChatGPT-4 is a relatively new tool, OpenAI’s Terms of Use gives you a lot of freedom to experiment. The company wants the benefits of using this AI technology to outweigh the detriments, Thus, the policies and procedures surrounding it caution heavily against fraudulent content or bot accounts that completely rely on the tool.

The legal jargon used can make the document a bit tough to get through, so we thought we’d share the basics with you. Along with the aforementioned reasons for banning an account, the OpenAI Terms of Use for ChatGPT include:

• Indemnification against legal liability: If content you’ve created with ChatGPT opens you to lawsuits, you’re responsible for all legal fees associated with the case and cannot place the blame at the feet of OpenAI. Remember you own the IP (Intellectual Property) you created with ChatGPT.
• Violation of human rights: If your use of ChatGPT infringes on the basic rights of another human being, or of an entire section of people, you’ll be found to be in violation of the Terms of Use.
• Claiming generalized responses as IP: If you use a popular ChatGPT response to a universal question, it is not your intellectual property: Claiming it as such is a direct violation of the Terms of Use.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of tasks prohibited by the Terms of Use, and again, we suggest you read over the policies before you take a deep dive into ChatGPT.

How ChatGPT can change the future 

The most exciting aspect of ChatGPT is how many positive, transformative doors it can open for the future of how businesses operate. If parameters are set on how the technology is controlled and used ethically, the sky’s the limit for the positive impacts it will have on the world at-large.

Although the technology was first unveiled in December 2022, it had already gained 100 million users by January 2023. In comparison, Google Translate could only boast these significant user numbers after 6.5 years in existence.

Some of the benefits of ChatGPT include:

• Appointments: ChatGPT can schedule appointments and interviews, and follow-up with customers and talent candidates.
• Customer service: ChatGPT can take away the need for 24-7 employees and, as it tailors responses based on an individual’s needs, can effectively answer consumer questions.
• Data entry: By plugging in data parameters and giving ChatGPT access to customer databases, the technology can take care of your data entry needs.
• Ideating headline ideas and website content: Although ChatGPT can generate an entire written article, the finished content often reads sterile and as if it was written by AI. However, the tool can produce a solid starting point based on the input of related information.
• The streamlining of overall operations: Businesses can delegate tasks to ChatGPT such as research and, ironically, human resources. For example, it may take you two hours to look up pertinent information for a new project. ChatGPT will be able to find that data for you in minutes. 

Another important and beneficial note about the tool is that ChatGPT remains free to use.

ChatGPT disadvantages and limitations

The possibility of being banned from ChatGPT is just one of the disadvantages and limitations of using this AI tool. 

You’ve probably heard some of the alarm bells being raised around ChatGPT and its risks. The GPT technology is growing quickly. Although human engineers still maintain control of its evolution, this may not always remain the case. In fact, the technology behind the AI chatbot has generated a heated debate on its rapid acceleration.  

Scientists and tech giants, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and even Elon Musk have signed an open letter  calling to slow down the technology. Although ChatGPT may have detractions, it also possesses numerous benefits. As it evolves, it may become an integral part of internet use and the global marketplace. 

Some of the disadvantages and fears associated with ChatGPT include:

• Incorrect responses: Although ChatGPT is built to grasp context, it’s not yet (thankfully) a sentient AI, and may misunderstand nuance. So while generated responses to questions may technically be accurate, you should still fact check before using these responses for your own content.
• Inability to multitask: Thus far, ChatGPT can only successfully complete one task at a time. If you try to assign to multiple tasks, you may find it cannot execute any with accuracy.
• Robotic content: If you rely on ChatGPT to actually write your content for you, you may find some of the language used clunky or incorrect. At this point, content still requires a human finesse. 

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