Creator of Conservative Chatbot Powered by ChatGPT Says OpenAI Tried to Censor Content

The ChatGPT app is shown on a phone in New York on May 18, 2023. Richard Drew/The Canadian Press/AP

The creators of a conservative chatbot powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT announced that they shut down the chatbot because of pressure from OpenAI to censor the bot’s responses.

The conservative chatbot, named GIPPR in honor of the late President Ronald Reagan, debuted in May and is part of TUSK, a pro-free speech and anti-censorship web browser.

GIPPR is a modified version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and provides users with answers from a conservative perspective.

The creators of GIPPR said they were forced to sever ties with OpenAI, after they were told that their chatbot failed to “conform to their requirements for what can or cannot be said.”

TUSK founder and CEO Jeff Bermant said in a statement to Fox Business that OpenAI told him that GIPPR was not in compliance with its policies, which were “specifically related to deceptive activity and coordinated inauthentic behavior” and that they needed to “keep users and third parties safe.”

The actions of OpenAI appear to many conservatives as another example of attempted censorship from the left.

“The GIPPR bot had been modified to not be highly biased in favor of a leftist agenda, something which seems to be of critical importance to the original creators of ChatGPT,“ Bermant said in the statement. ”Tusk had produced the only AI bot in operation which actually was fair and balanced and did not promote a radical leftist agenda.”

TUSK said it is currently exploring how to make GIPPR operational again and urged users to help them to support defending free speech on the internet.

“Until they find a solution to get it back online, the world of AI will remain highly unbalanced,” Bermant added.

GIPPR Creator Wants to Oppose Left-Wing Bias

Bermant said he got the inspiration for GIPPR after his first interaction with ChatGPT following its launch in November.

He said he was shocked after he asked the chatbot questions about cultural issues and politics and received left-wing answers in response.

The TUSK CEO told Fox Business in May that he then realized that the ChatGPT was likely programmed with a “very progressive” bias, which led him to create his own version using the same OpenAI software.

“We believe that Conservatives are subject to oppressive cancel culture that now includes AI and are expected to exist in a society that tells them what to think and how to act by the progressive left,” Bermant announced after releasing GIPPR.

“It’s time for a TRUTHFUL AI chatbot to take the market by storm and remove the barriers the Radical Left and Big Tech have put in place to allow all Conservatives to enjoy the benefits of AI, without fear of being canceled or shamed for your beliefs,” he said.

OpenAI did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment before press time.