Content moderation at scale has always been one of the most difficult challenges for online platforms. OpenAI, however, is convinced that its technology can help solve this problem. The company claims that GPT-4, its latest AI language model, could replace tens of thousands of human moderators while being nearly as accurate and more consistent.

OpenAI sees three significant benefits compared to traditional approaches to content moderation. First, machines are consistent in their judgments, while people interpret policies differently. Second, GPT-4 can allegedly help develop a new policy within hours. Third, they mention the well-being of workers continually exposed to harmful content. OpenAI has already been using GPT-4 to develop and refine its policies, label content, and make decisions. OpenAI head of safety systems, Lilian Weng, believes that this is a good step forward in how we use AI to solve real-world issues in a way that benefits society. While the organization touts its approach as new and revolutionary, AI has been used for content moderation for years.

Although OpenAI has promised to make ChatGPT more truthful, GPT-4 still willingly produces news-related falsehoods and misinformation. Ultimately, the organization might help tackle a problem its technology has exacerbated. Generative AI such as ChatGPT or the company’s image creator, DALL-E, makes it much easier to create misinformation at scale and spread it on social media.