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Last month, OpenAI came out against a yet-to-be enacted Californian law that aims to set basic safety standards for developers of large artificial intelligence (AI) models. This was a change of posture for the company, whose chief executive Sam Altman has previously spoken in support of AI regulation. The former nonprofit organisation, which shot to prominence in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT, is now valued at up to US$150 billion.
It remains at the forefront of AI development, with the release last week of a new "reasoning" model designed to tackle more complex tasks. The company has made several moves in recent months suggesting a growing appetite for data acquisition. This isn't just the text or images used for training current generative AI tools, but may also include intimate data related to online behaviour, personal interactions and health.
There is no evidence OpenAI plans to bring these different streams of data together, but doing so would offer strong commercial benefits. Even the possibility of access to such wide-ranging information raises significant questions about privacy and the ethical implications of centralised data control. Media deals This year, OpenAI has signed multiple partnerships with media companies including Time magazine, the Financial Times, Axel Springer, Le Monde, Prisa Media, and most recently Condé Nast, owner of the likes of Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired.
The partnerships grant OpenAI access to large amounts of content. OpenAI's products may also be used to analyse user behaviour and interaction metrics such as reading habits, preferences, and engagement patterns across platforms. If OpenAI gained access to this data, the company could gain a comprehensive understanding of how users engage with various types of content, which could be used for in-depth user profiling and tracking.
Video, biometrics and health OpenAI has also invested in a webcam startup called Opal. The aim is to enhance the cameras..
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