OpenAI To Pull Plug on 'Unsupported' Nations Like China From July 9 (theregister.com) 29
ChatGPT developer OpenAI has sent out emails to users based in countries it considers "unsupported," saying it will block their access for good starting July 9. From a report: The email, reproduced on the OpenAI community forum here, includes a brief statement. "Our data shows that your organization has API traffic from a region that OpenAI does not currently support," it reads. "We will be taking additional measures to block API traffic from regions that are not on our supported countries and territories list starting on July 9."
"To continue using OpenAI's services, you will need to access the service in a supported region," it concludes. Much of the world has access to OpenAI including virtually the entire West, most of Eastern Europe, South Asia, and about half of Africa. However, there are some notable absences on the list such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and mainland China.
"To continue using OpenAI's services, you will need to access the service in a supported region," it concludes. Much of the world has access to OpenAI including virtually the entire West, most of Eastern Europe, South Asia, and about half of Africa. However, there are some notable absences on the list such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and mainland China.
"Open" (Score:5, Insightful)
Are there any definitions of 'open' left for them to violate?
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Your asshole?
Re: "Open" (Score:2)
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Are there any definitions of 'open' left for them to violate?
Not many! I guess they could stop using TCP/IP entirely.
Re:"Open" (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I don't see this as necessarily bearing on openness one way or another. Principles of openness don't require you to provide any products or services to anyone; they just lay out the duties you have when you actually do. If I'm not doing business with you, I have no business-related ethical or legal duties toward you. If I *do* provide you with software or services, then I would have obligations to disclose some things -- possibly source code depending on your philosophical position; certainly general information about privacy and data sharing practices although industry practice is very poor in this regard.
There's good reasons to avoid providing services in some countries. Every country has the ability to legally compel you to reveal data that passes through that country. How the country uses that ability may make it unethical or unwise to operate there -- e.g. if the country uses that power to identify and track dissidents. On the flip side, privacy standards in a country may be *too* high for your business model. You may be violating your users' privacy rights all the time, but the one group you're *not* harming are the ones who live in countries which ban your business practices.
The US has some dubious law enforcement and national securities practices related to data that passes through it; it would be reasonable for some companies to choose to try to avoid that and it wouldn't violate anyone's rights. What would be a violation of openness is to keep or move data through the US without telling users about that. While you obviously can't tip off users who become the subject of US government secret government investigation, users should at least know that that is a physical possibility.
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possibly source code depending on your philosophical position
This is parenthetical of course, but "definitely source code depending on the license."
Private proxy? (Score:1)
Obligatory Comment (Score:2)
How do I get to be unsupported? (Score:2)
Is there a form I can fill out?
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You do know that you're under no obligation to use it, right?
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*Glances at long list of vendors stuffing "AI" into everything, regardless of whether it is wanted or needed; raises eyebrow*
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You tried to reach customer support lately?
Move countries! (Score:2)
"(...) you will need to access the service in a supported region,"
I find it funny when they put it like that. Like you could just move to another country in a whim just to comply to a requirement of a product.
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"(...) you will need to access the service in a supported region,"
I find it funny when they put it like that. Like you could just move to another country in a whim just to comply to a requirement of a product.
Or you could use VPN. There are plenty of Web services that block EU locations in order to not deal with their requirements.
China being China, using a VPN is probably a crime - anyone know?
Re: Move countries! (Score:2)
Using a VPN is not a crime in China. They're used widely.
It also isn't necessary, depending your demands.
VPN (Score:2)
AFAIK, it is common in China to use VPNs to circumvent the great firewall, among other reasons. I have seen numbers in the 30% overall, probably much more for tech people. ChatGPT will be yet another reason.
I'm shocked it was accessible in the first place (Score:3)
Me: What notable events happened in Tiananmen Square?
ChatGPT: Tiananmen Square, located in the center of Beijing, China, has been the site of several notable events throughout its history. Here are a few key occurrences:
[...]
Tiananmen Square Massacre (1989): The most infamous event associated with Tiananmen Square is the 1989 massacre. This occurred after weeks of pro-democracy protests led predominantly by students and intellectuals, calling for political reform and greater freedoms. The Chinese government declared martial law and sent in the military, who killed hundreds to thousands of protestors. The exact number remains unknown due to the Chinese government's censorship of the event.
Re: I'm shocked it was accessible in the first pla (Score:2)
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Lol 800 years of history for that square, and it all comes down to a single event in 1989. Yet another example of chatgpt bias.
To be fair the "[...]" was me filtering out other events like the founding of the PRC and cultural revolution rallies, but it definitely still had a western focus.
Re: I'm shocked it was accessible in the first pla (Score:2)
Yeah, it's swallowed the western narrative hook line and sinker, and doesn't know truth any more than any other western source.
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The Great Firewall isn't all that great, and what it blocks varies by province. Down in Shenzhen and Guangzhou it is a lot more permissive, which helps tech companies down there develop products which e.g. use Google services (Android phones and tablet) for export.
They should rename the company to Open(*)AI (Score:1)