OpenAI Moves to Dismiss Amended ChatGPT Defamation Complaint

OpenAI seeks the dismissal in its entirety with prejudice of plaintiff Mark Walters’ amended defamation complaint for failure to state a claim, said its motion Friday (docket 1:23-cv-03122) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. Walters, a nationally syndicated talk show host, alleges OpenAI’s ChatGPT service defamed him to a journalist (see 2309060026).

OpenAI is dedicated “to safe and responsible deployment of AI technology,” including ChatGPT, said its memorandum of law in support of its motion to dismiss. OpenAI’s technology has already been used by millions of people around the world, “with stunning potential to solve longstanding problems,” but OpenAI also has been “consistently open about the limitations and responsible use of this emerging technology,” it said.

Though the technology behind ChatGPT may be new, plaintiff Walters’ claims “fail for reasons deep-rooted in settled defamation law,” said the memorandum. There was no publication of the alleged defamatory ChatGPT, plus “no actual malice, no listener who believed the alleged defamatory content, and thus no harm to any reputation,” it said.

There was only a journalist who knew Walters, and misused the software tool intentionally, said the memorandum. The journalist knew the information was false, “but spread it anyway, over OpenAI’s repeated warnings and in violation of its terms of use,” it said. OpenAI had no knowledge of, “must less malice towards,” plaintiff Walters, “nor of the outputs prompted by a third-party journalist intentionally misusing the tool,” it said.

Walters’ complaint cites a portion of a transcript of an interaction with ChatGPT, but the full transcript, which Walters didn’t disclose to the court, “establishes conclusively that there can be no defamation claim here,” said the memorandum. The full transcript reveals that when the journalist asked ChatGPT to summarize a legal complaint, “it immediately responded that it couldn’t access or view the complaint and that the journalist needed to consult a lawyer for accurate and reliable information about a legal matter, it said.

The journalist then “continued to push ChatGPT, disregarding its repeated warnings,” said the memorandum, The full transcript also reveals that the journalist “never viewed ChatGPT’s output as an assertion of fact” about Walters, it said.

As a “threshold point,” Walters’ case also should be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction over OpenAI, said the memorandum. That’s because the Microsoft-funded R&D company was organized in Delaware, and has its principal place of business in California, and it therefore isn’t subject to “general jurisdiction in Georgia,” it said. Walters’ amended complaint isn’t based on conduct “arising out of OpenAI’s contacts with Georgia, meaning no specific jurisdiction exists either,” it said.

The facts before the court in the amended complaint “demonstrate with certainty” that plaintiff Walters can’t establish “the basic elements of a defamation claim,” said the memorandum. Nor can Walters introduce evidence within the amended complaint’s “framework” that would establish “entitlement to relief,” it said.