---
title: "OpenAI Warned Microsoft That Its AI Is Absolutely Terrible At Telling the Truth"
description: "Last fall, OpenAI warned Microsoft that rushing to integrate its AI could lead to nonsense responses and lies."
date: "2023-06-13"
modified: "2023-06-13"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-warned-microsoft"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "OpenAI"
tags:
  - "ai chatbots"
  - "microsoft"
  - "OpenAI"
  - "the digest"
---

# OpenAI Warned Microsoft That Its AI Is Absolutely Terrible At Telling the Truth

![Last fall, OpenAI warned Microsoft that rushing to integrate its AI could lead to nonsense responses and lies.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/openai-warned-microsoft.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

## 2000 and Late

Last fall, as Microsoft was rushing to stuff AI tech into its Bing search engine, its partner OpenAI warned the tech giant about the dangers of integrating its GPT-4 large language model (LLM) early without training it more, the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](<https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-forge-awkward-partnership-as-techs-new-power-couple-3092de51?mod=djemalertNEWS>).

Despite OpenAI cautioning Microsoft that jumping the gun and integrating an unreleased version of the LLM could lead to lies and nonsense responses, Microsoft went ahead and [launched](<https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/02/07/reinventing-search-with-a-new-ai-powered-microsoft-bing-and-edge-your-copilot-for-the-web/>) the tech anyway in early February.

The result is [well-documented](<https://futurism.com/microsoft-your-fault-ai-going-insane>): a barrage of "hallucinations" that greatly undermined the tech's usefulness as a search assistant and perception in the public eye.

And that still applies, even after Microsoft put strict limits on conversation lengths in February, effectively "[lobotomizing](<https://futurism.com/microsoft-limited-bing-ai>)" the [infamously free-spirited](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bing-ai-responds-marriage>) AI.

The incident underlines that these consequences were almost entirely predictable and avoidable — yet Microsoft ignored OpenAI's warnings, likely in a bid to position itself better during the early days of the burgeoning [AI wars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/reality-chatgpt-openai-expensive>).

## Collision Course

While Microsoft and OpenAI have made [at least some headway](<https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/05/04/announcing-the-next-wave-of-ai-innovation-with-microsoft-bing-and-edge/>) in addressing the hallucination issue, Bing's AI assistant [still spits out plenty of fabrications](<https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/why-ai-chatbots-are-the-ultimate-bs-machines-and-how-people-hope-to-fix-them/>). Worse yet, Bing's AI has even [started citing](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bard-bing-neural-hall-of-mirrors>) hallucinations from other AI chatbots, like Google's Bard.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's own chatbot ChatGPT has left Bing in the dust and has amassed 200 million monthly users, according to the *WSJ*.

Microsoft [spent billions](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-confirms-microsoft-expansion>) to get early access, inextricably tying itself to the successes and failures of OpenAI. Yet despite its sizable investment, anonymous sources told the *WSJ* that employees are still being shut out of the inner workings of OpenAI's tech.

In short, while it looks like a mutually beneficial arrangement from the outside, the partnership comes with its fair share of pain points.

"What puts them in more of a collision course is both sides need to make money," Oren Etzioni, board member and former CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, told the *WSJ*. "The conflict is they’ll both be trying to make money with similar products."

**More on Microsoft:** *[Google's Bard and Bing AI Already Citing Each Other in Neural Hall of Mirrors](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bard-bing-neural-hall-of-mirrors>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)