Italy restricts ChatGPT and launches investigation due to privacy concerns

Following a temporary ban by the government’s Data Protection Authority in Italy and an ongoing investigation into ChatGPT’s potential violation of privacy regulations, OpenAI has taken the chatbot offline.

According to the Garante, the agency responsible for data protection in Italy, OpenAI failed to verify the age of ChatGPT users, who are required to be 13 or older, resulting in a suspected violation of privacy regulations.

Garante accused OpenAI of collecting and storing personal data without a legal basis for the purpose of training ChatGPT. OpenAI has been given a 20-day deadline to provide a response with corrective actions or face a fine of up to €20 million ($21.68 million) or 4% of its global annual turnover.

OpenAI complied with Garante’s request and has disabled ChatGPT for users in Italy. The website is currently inaccessible in Italy, and a notice on the ChatGPT webpage suggests that the website’s owner may have imposed restrictions preventing users from accessing the site.

OpenAI stated that they are committed to minimizing the use of personal data while training their AI systems such as ChatGPT, as their goal is to facilitate the learning of the AI about the world and not private individuals.

Italy has become the first Western country to take action against a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence by provisionally restricting ChatGPT’s use of domestic users’ personal data. As a result, the chatbot is currently unavailable to users in Italy, mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Russia, and some parts of Africa where creating OpenAI accounts is not possible.

ChatGPT has sparked a tech frenzy since its launch last year, leading competitors to develop similar products and businesses to integrate it or comparable technologies into their applications and products. The fast-paced development of AI technology has caught the attention of lawmakers in various countries. Many experts believe that new regulations are necessary to oversee AI due to its potential impact on national security, employment, and education.

A spokesperson for the European Commission stated that they expect all companies operating in the EU to comply with the EU’s data protection regulations. The responsibility of enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation lies with the EU’s data protection authorities. The European Commission is currently discussing the EU AI Act and may not be inclined to ban AI, according to a tweet by European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager.

According to European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, “We have to continue to advance our freedoms and protect our rights no matter which technology we use. That’s why we regulate the uses of AI instead of regulating AI technologies themselves. Let’s not jeopardize what we have built over decades by throwing it away in a few years.”

An open letter signed by Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives on Wednesday urged for a six-month halt in the development of systems that are more powerful than OpenAI’s recently released GPT-4, citing potential risks to society.

OpenAI has not disclosed the specifics of its AI model training methods. Johanna Björklund, an AI researcher and associate professor at Umeå University in Sweden, expressed concern over the lack of transparency, stating that “If you do AI research, you should be very transparent about how you do it.”

A UBS study published last month estimated that ChatGPT had reached 100 million monthly active users in January, only two months after its launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.