OpenAI’s GPT Store is seeing a rapid increase in submissions, but this growth has come at the cost of quality control. Many GPTs (AI chatbots) violate OpenAI’s terms of service. Some impersonate famous people or brands, while others blatantly promote cheating with plagiarism-circumventing features.
Copyright infringement is a significant issue in the store. GPTs often mimic popular entertainment properties (like Disney or Star Wars) without authorization, potentially leading to legal trouble. OpenAI technically isn’t liable thanks to safe harbor laws, but allowing copyright-infringement content contradicts its ongoing intellectual property battles.
The store also features GPTs that help students bypass plagiarism detection tools, directly violating OpenAI’s rules against academic dishonesty. While many of these detectors are questionable, providing tools to aid cheating remains a contentious issue.
Additionally, the GPT Store has GPTs that claim to “jailbreak” OpenAI’s safety and content restrictions. While the examples in the article didn’t work particularly well, they demonstrate a trend of users pushing boundaries. OpenAI states its intent to remove GPTs that bypass safeguards, but the existence of these tools raises questions.
OpenAI wants the GPT Store to become a profitable marketplace like Apple’s App Store, but the lack of moderation is a major problem. This conflict of interest raises concerns about future monetization; how will copyright holders react if people are making money using their intellectual property without permission? OpenAI needs to address the spam, copyright issues, and ethical concerns if the GPT Store is to be a safe and legitimate platform.
To dive deeper into the issues plaguing the GPT Store, the full article on TechCrunch explores the situation in detail. It provides examples and investigates the conflict of interest OpenAI faces between profit and moderation.
