Zoe Hitzig says chatbot holds “archive of human candour” that must not be commercialised
OpenAI has moved in the direction that Sam Altman had always denied. ChatGPT now started testing ads on its platform. While industry folks have raised privacy concerns, OpenAI maintains the stance that advertisers do not have access to your chats, chat history, memories, or personal details.
Now the AI giant is facing scrutiny after one of its researchers, Zoe Hitzig, resigned with a strong warning about the company’s future direction. Hitzig, who worked on ChatGPT’s development and governance, cautioned that introducing advertising into the chatbot could compromise user trust and create risks similar to those seen in social media platforms.
Her concern is not about simple banner ads or sponsored replies. Instead, she highlighted the sensitive nature of the information users share with ChatGPT. Conversations with AI often tend to be private and unfiltered. People use chatbots to discuss health worries, relationship struggles, faith, and deeply personal dilemmas.
Hitzig described chatbots as an “archive of human candour” that has no precedent. She warned that embedding ads into such a system could open the door to manipulation. “Advertising built on that archive creates a potential for influencing users in ways we don’t have the tools to understand,” she wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times.
Hitzig believes that once ads become part of the revenue model, financial incentives could gradually reshape priorities. She compared this to Facebook’s early promises of privacy and user control, which were later abandoned as advertising became central to its business.
Her resignation comes just as OpenAI begins testing ads inside ChatGPT. Critics worry that even if ads are initially labelled and kept separate from responses, commercial pressure could eventually push the system to prioritise engagement over restraint.
Hitzig called for stronger safeguards, including independent oversight and legal mechanisms to protect user data. She stressed that the issue is not ads themselves, but the incentives they create.
Sourced from Mashable Middle East
