OpenAI partners with Common Sense Media on AI guidelines

OpenAI has announced a partnership with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that evaluates the appropriateness of media and technology for young people, to develop AI guidelines and educational materials for parents, educators, and young adults.

In collaboration with Common Sense Media, OpenAI will actively participate in curating “family-friendly” GPTs, utilizing OpenAI’s GenAI models in the GPT Store, which serves as OpenAI’s marketplace. The selection and categorization process will adhere to Common Sense’s established rating and evaluation standards, as highlighted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The announcement of the partnership was made at Common Sense’s kids and family summit in San Francisco, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman refuted the notion that AI is harmful to children and should be excluded from schools.

Day one of the #CommonSenseSummit on America’s Kids and Families has wrapped and it was full of engaging discussions and promising solutions around the future of kids and families… pic.twitter.com/tfjeNwxnyD

— Common Sense Media (@CommonSense) January 30, 2024

“Humans are tool users and we better teach people to use the tools that are going to be out in the world,” Altman reportedly said. “To not teach people to use those would be a mistake.”

The CEO also expressed the belief that upcoming high school seniors would have the capacity to operate at a more advanced level of abstraction, achieving greater milestones compared to their predecessors, thanks to the assistance of artificial intelligence.

“AI offers incredible benefits for families and teens, and our partnership with Common Sense will further strengthen our safety work, ensuring that families and teens can use our tools with confidence,” Altman added.

“Together, Common Sense and OpenAI will work to make sure that AI has a positive impact on all teens and families. Our guides and curation will be designed to educate families and educators about safe, responsible use of [OpenAI tools like] ChatGPT, so that we can collectively avoid any unintended consequences of this emerging technology.” James Steyer, the co-founder and CEO of Common Sense, said in a statement.

The partnership launch follows OpenAI’s announcement to join Common Sense’s framework for rating AI products’ safety, transparency, ethical use, and impact, which was unveiled in September.

Also Read: OpenAI’s ChatGPT breaches data privacy rules – Italy

According to Steyer, their framework seeks to create a “nutrition label” for AI-powered applications to provide transparency by shedding light on the specific contexts in which these apps are utilized.

It also aims to identify and highlight potential areas of both opportunity and harm, all while adhering to a set of fundamental “common sense” principles. By implementing this framework, Common Sense aims to promote responsible and informed use of AI technology.

In a recent press release, Steyer hinted that today’s parents are generally less informed about GenAI tools than younger generations. For instance, OpenAI’s viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT.

A poll by Impact Research, which was commissioned by Common Sense Media in late 2020, discovered that 58% of students aged between 12 and 18 have used ChatGPT, in contrast to 30% of parents with school-aged children.

However, OpenAI’ is facing pressure from regulators to demonstrate that its products, including ChatGPT, are beneficial to society. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into OpenAI last summer, questioning whether ChatGPT’s data collection and publication of false information about individuals was harmful to consumers. European data authorities have also expressed concerns about OpenAI’s handling of private information.