Sam Altman says OpenAI has amended its agreement with the Department of War to clarify limits around domestic surveillance and intelligence use.
In a new post on X, the OpenAI chief executive says both sides agreed to add explicit civil liberties language to the contract following public scrutiny.
“We have been working with the DoW to make some additions in our agreement to make our principles very clear.
• Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.
• For the avoidance of doubt, the Department understands this limitation to prohibit deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information.”
He says the clarification is designed to address concerns about American civil liberties, including data acquired commercially. Altman adds that the DoW affirms OpenAI’s tools would not be used by intelligence agencies, such as the NSA, without further modification.
“For extreme clarity: we want to work through democratic processes. It should be the government making the key decisions about society.
But we are clear on how the system works (because a lot of people have asked, if I received what I believed was an unconstitutional order, of course I would rather go to jail than follow it).”
According to Altman, OpenAI and the DoW will continue to work together to address technical guardrails, knowing that AI is not ready for prime time.
“There are many things the technology just isn’t ready for, and many areas we don’t yet understand the tradeoffs required for safety. We will work through these, slowly, with the DoW, with technical safeguards and other methods.”
Altman also admits that he mishandled the initial announcement.
“One thing I think I did wrong: we shouldn’t have rushed to get this out on Friday. The issues are super complex and demand clear communication.”
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