Laura Modiano, OpenAI's head of EMEA startups, spoke at the Sifted Summit, highlighting the company's recent initiatives in promoting user well-being in the context of artificial intelligence. On October 7, OpenAI announced the formation of the Expert Council on Well-Being and AI, a group tasked with advising the company on the potential impacts of AI on users' mental health, emotions, and motivation.
The council will initially focus on OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, and its short-form video application, Sora. This initiative comes amid increasing scrutiny regarding the safety of AI interactions, particularly for minors. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is currently investigating several tech companies, including OpenAI, to assess how their products might affect children and teenagers negatively. Additionally, OpenAI is facing a wrongful death lawsuit related to a teenager's suicide allegedly linked to ChatGPT.
To enhance user safety, OpenAI is developing an age prediction system to automatically enforce appropriate settings for users under 18. The company recently introduced new parental controls that notify parents of signs of acute distress in their children while using its platforms.
The newly formed council consists of eight experts from various fields, including psychology, human-computer interaction, and pediatric care. Members include professors from institutions such as the University of Oxford and Stanford University, as well as professionals from Boston Children's Hospital and Northwestern University.
OpenAI has indicated that it has already begun informal consultations with council members as part of its efforts to enhance its safety measures and parental controls before the council's official launch.