Italy’s data protection authority, Garante, temporarily banned OpenAI’s widely used chatbot, ChatGPT, last week over concerns about data privacy. In a video conference between the commissioners and OpenAI executives, measures were promised to address these concerns. The Italian watchdog is emphasizing the need for the company to adhere to EU data privacy regulations.
Experts said it was the first such case of a democracy imposing a nationwide ban on a mainstream AI platform. The ban came after some users’ messages and payment information were exposed to others, as well as concerns that the system could sometimes generate false information about individuals. OpenAI uses generative AI technology that is trained on huge pools of data, including digital books and online writings, and is able to generate text that mimics human writing styles.
The news has caused other regulators in Europe and beyond to start paying more attention. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it’s “following up with the Italian regulator to understand the basis for their action”, while France’s data privacy regulator, CNIL, and Canada’s privacy commissioner have opened investigations into OpenAI. The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office warned that “organizations developing or using generative AI should be considering their data protection obligations from the outset”.
In response, OpenAI published a blog post Wednesday outlining its approach to AI safety. The company said it works to remove personal information from training data where feasible, fine-tune its models to reject requests for personal information of private individuals, and acts on requests to delete personal information from its systems.
The news of a temporary ban on OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, has caused a stir in the tech world and beyond and caused other regulators in Europe and beyond to start paying more attention. OpenAI has promised to set out measures to address the concerns and has outlined its approach to AI safety. Organizations developing or using generative AI should take note of the importance of considering their data protection obligations from the outset in order to comply with EU data privacy rules.
Key Points:
- The Italian data protection authority, Garante, imposed a temporary ban on OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, last week due to data privacy concerns.
- This is the first such case of a democracy imposing a nationwide ban on a mainstream AI platform.
- The ban came after some users’ messages and payment information were exposed to others, as well as concerns that the system could sometimes generate false information about individuals.
- The news has caused other regulators in Europe and beyond to start paying more attention.
- OpenAI has promised to set out measures to address the concerns and has outlined its approach to AI safety.
- Organizations developing or using generative AI should take note of the importance of considering their data protection obligations from the outset in order to comply with EU data privacy rules.