cogloom · Free lesson
Almost nobody reads the Terms of Use. Here are three plain-English takeaways from OpenAI's terms for ChatGPT. (These are the U.S. and most-countries terms. People in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK have their own version.)
1. Age rules: 13 and up, and a parent's OK under 18. The terms say you "must be at least 13 years old or the minimum age required in your country," and "if you are under 18 you must have your parent or legal guardian's permission." If a grandchild wants to use it, that's a conversation for the family.
2. It can be wrong, and the company says so. The terms warn that output "may not always be accurate" and say you "should not rely on Output from our Services as a sole source of truth or factual information, or as a substitute for professional advice." Use it for ideas and drafts, then check anything important with a trusted source or a professional.
3. Your chats may help train the AI unless you opt out. The terms say OpenAI "may use Content to provide, maintain, develop, and improve our Services," and that you can opt out of training. (Our lesson "Before you type" shows where that setting is.)
Bonus: the terms also say you may not present AI output as human-written when it isn't ("Represent that Output was human-generated when it was not").
Do this now: before you ask a chatbot about your health, money or a legal question, write down who you'll check the answer with.
Also on dev.to: read this lesson on dev.to. More free lessons: cogloom lessons index.