Lessons Learned on Language Model Safety and Misuse

The deployment of powerful AI systems has enriched our understanding of safety and misuse far more than would have been possible through research alone. Here, we describe our latest thinking in the hope of helping other AI developers address safety and misuse of deployed models. Over the past two years, we've learned a lot about how language models can be used and abused--insights we couldn't have gained without the experience of real-world deployment. In June 2020, we began giving access to developers and researchers to the OpenAI API, an interface for accessing and building applications on top of new AI models developed by OpenAI. Deploying GPT-3, Codex, and other models in a way that reduces risks of harm has posed various technical and policy challenges.