OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed firm behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, said on Tuesday that it would offer up to $20,000 to users reporting vulnerabilities in its artificial intelligence systems. OpenAI Bug Bounty program, which went live on Tuesday, will offer rewards to people based on the severity of the bugs they report, with rewards starting from $200 per vulnerability.
Technology companies often use bug bounty programs to encourage programmers and ethical hackers to report bugs in their software systems.
According to details on the bug bounty platform Bugcrowd, OpenAI has invited researchers to review certain functionality of ChatGPT and the framework of how OpenAI systems communicate and share data with third-party applications.
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The programme does not include incorrect or malicious content produced by OpenAI systems.
The move comes days after ChatGPT was banned in Italy for a suspected breach of privacy rules, prompting regulators in other European countries to study generative AI services more closely. In response, OpenAI said it will address security concerns raised by Italy's data watchdog and the ban that has been imposed on the chatbot.
In a video conference this week, ChatGPT creator pledged to be more transparent about the way it handles user data and verifies the ages of users, the authority said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was among the attendees. OpenAI also said it would send Italian agency Garante a document regarding measures to respond to its requests.
The data authority said it would evaluate the proposals made by OpenAI, the report added.
Italy's data protection agency opened a ChatGPT probe over privacy concerns due to a suspected breach of data collection rules, Reuters reported late last month.
The country's data protection watchdog has also accused ChatGPT of failing to check the age of its users, which should be reserved for people aged 13 and above. The agency said it had provisionally restricted the chatbot's use of Italian users' personal data, the Reuters report had added. The Italian Data Protection Authority said that the decision "with immediate effect" will result in "the temporary limitation of the processing of Italian user data vis-a-vis OpenAI."