Screening for Ethics at Scale

Last June OpenAI released the most powerful language model ever created, which became the topic of much discussion among developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Its capabilities of zero- and one-shot learning blew people's minds, with many GPT-3 powered applications going viral on twitter every second day. This API is being released in an era when polarization and bias have never been as intense, with technology that is powerful, scalable, and potentially dangerous -- imagine a fake news generator or a social media bullying bot powered by the human-like GPT-3. Understanding the harmful potential of its API technology, OpenAI has taken a unique Go To Market approach, strictly limiting access to a small number of vetted developers. By doing so, it became one of the first companies to voluntarily forfeit short-term profits in favor of being socially-responsible.