Recently, OpenAI made an announcement regarding the temporary
disabling of the “Browse with Bing” feature in ChatGPT. The decision was
made as a precautionary measure due to concerns over the consumption and
presentation of paywalled content.
OpenAI expressed the intention to address the issue in order to respect the
rights of content owners. They assured users that they are actively working
on resolving the matter and plan to reinstate the beta feature as soon as
possible.
According to reports from Windows Central, several users found a way to
bypass paywalls by using ChatGPT to extract text from articles that were
otherwise restricted. This prompted concerns about unauthorized access to
paid content.
Interestingly, the CEO of Microsoft Bing, in response to a tweet, mentioned
that Bing Chat has a mechanism in place to prevent the leakage of paywalled
content into answers, provided that publishers have set up the appropriate
“paywall” flag. He indicated that he would inform OpenAI about the issue,
implying that OpenAI should double-check its mechanisms.
ChatGPT Plus users can use Browsing Mode to navigate around paywalled articles:
Tested this on a paywalled article from Fortune Magazine.
After GPT-4 Browsing printed the article, I paid for the Fortune subscription to confirm – it was the same text. ChatGPT did not… pic.twitter.com/YI8ohiY11H
— AI Breakfast (@AiBreakfast) June 26, 2023
In summary, a user reported to the CEO of Microsoft Bing about the paywall
content issue in OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The CEO acknowledged the concern and
pledged to inform OpenAI about it. OpenAI has taken swift action by
disabling the “Browse with Bing” feature temporarily while they rectify the
situation. Users are advised to stay tuned for updates, as OpenAI is
actively working to resolve the issue and restore the functionality of the
beta feature.