alt Hacker NewsFor GPT-2 and GPT-3 it seems like the concern was that they hadn't yet figured out how to properly write safeguards for it yet:
> The company believes making its API generally available was made possible due to its progress with safeguards, and that opening up the API to all developers will help see applications developed faster. ...
> A large emphasis has been placed on safe use of the tool, which in the past has been criticised for a range of shortcomings, including racism and prejudices against specific genders and religions.
Maybe, but they certainly used it for marketing too. At the time they contacted a bunch of publications and gave them access but told them they could only share snippets of the output [1]. The only reason to set restrictions like that is marketing.
[1]: https://youtu.be/TfVYxnhuEdU?t=102
Transcript of the timestamped part:
> Now, OpenAI's terms of service don't let me give you the full list. I have to curate them, and show you a sample. Those are the terms and conditions I agreed to.