More than 2.5 million users have decided to uninstall the ChatGpt app in protest of OpenAI signing a contract with the Pentagon to deploy its artificial intelligence (AI) models in classified environments.
A website where people have pledged to boycott ChatGPT claims that more than 2.5 million people have already left the chatbot service after OpenAI signed a contract with the Pentagon, writes ndtv.com. OpenAI, which has more than 900 million users of ChatGPT, signed the agreement last week, allowing the Department of Defense to implement the artificial intelligence model on its classified network.
Estimation based on website signatures, number of social media shares, and credible app usage data revealed that people were becoming increasingly disenchanted with ChatGPT.
“QWe are organizing Americans and people around the world to opt out of ChatGPT,” the website pointed out, adding: “We can push OpenAI beyond the limit. By making an example of ChatGPT, we can send a clear signal to those facilitating ICE that their actions will not go unpunished.”
According to Sensor Tower’s analysis, Claude, the chatbot created by Anthropic, has climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store ranking, surpassing ChatGPT. A report from TechCrunch also highlighted that chatGPT mobile app uninstalls in the US increased by 295% from the previous day last Saturday.
ChatGPT came under scrutiny after it closed the deal almost immediately after Anthropic, the Pentagon’s existing AI contractor, pulled out. The company led by Dario Amodei claimed that the US government plans to use its artificial intelligence model for domestic surveillance, which is incompatible with its democratic values.
“I shouldn’t have rushed”
After the backlash, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a social media post that the initial deal was done too quickly and that the firm shouldn’t have rushed it.
“We shouldn’t have rushed to publish this on Friday (February 27 – n. ed.)“Altman wrote. “The issues are extremely complex and require clear communication. We were really trying to de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome, but I think it just seemed opportunistic and careless.”
When announcing the deal, OpenAI said it had “more safeguards than any previous agreement for classified AI deployments, including Anthropic’s.”
However, the US military’s use of artificial intelligence has alarmed nearly 900 employees at OpenAI and Google, also a top tech powerhouse, who have signed an open letter asking their bosses to deny the Weapons Department the use of their products for autonomous surveillance and killing.
Warning that the US government is trying to “divide each company out of fear that the other will cave in,” they wrote: “We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and come together to continue to refuse the current requests by the Department of Health to receive permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and the autonomous killing of people without human supervision.”
The company is now amending its hastily concluded agreement, according to an article in The Guardian. The startup said it would explicitly prohibit the use of its technology for mass surveillance purposes or its deployment by defense department intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA).
