Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come under the radar of the Italian data protection watchdog, Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (Garante), which has imposed a temporary ban on OpenAI’s ChatGPT service in the country due to data protection concerns. Garante noted that there was no information provided to users and data subjects whose data was collected by Open AI and there appeared to be no legal basis underpinning the collection and processing of personal data.
ChatGPT has not disclosed how it trained its latest large language model (LLM), GPT-4. It is estimated to have reached over 100 million monthly active users since its release late last year. Google’s own chatbot, called Bard, is only open to users aged 18 and over due to the lack of any age verification system to prevent minors from accessing the service. Garante also raised questions about the accuracy of the information surfaced by ChatGPT and highlighted a data breach the service suffered which exposed chat titles and payment-related information.
In response to the order, OpenAI has blocked its generative AI chatbot from being accessed by users with an Italian IP address. It has also issued refunds to subscribers of ChatGPT Plus and paused subscription renewals. OpenAI emphasized that it provides ChatGPT in compliance with GDPR and other privacy laws. It is already blocked in China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
Europol has also warned that LLMs like ChatGPT are likely to help generate malicious code, facilitate fraud and offer criminals new opportunities. Last year, facial recognition firm Clearview AI was fined by multiple European regulators for scraping users’ publicly available photos without consent to train its identity-matching service. It has also run afoul of privacy laws in Australia, Canada, and the U.S.
These developments show the importance of data protection and the need for companies to ensure that they are compliant with data protection laws. Companies must also be aware of any potential malicious activity and take the necessary precautions to protect user data.
Key Points:
– Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (Garante) has imposed a temporary ban on OpenAI’s ChatGPT service in Italy due to data protection concerns.
– ChatGPT has not disclosed how it trained its latest large language model (LLM), GPT-4.
– In response to the order, OpenAI has blocked its generative AI chatbot from being accessed by users with an Italian IP address.
– Europol has warned that LLMs like ChatGPT are likely to help generate malicious code, facilitate fraud and offer criminals new opportunities.
– Last year, facial recognition firm Clearview AI was fined by multiple European regulators for scraping users’ publicly available photos without consent to train its identity-matching service.
– These developments show the importance of data protection and the need for companies to ensure that they are compliant with data protection laws.