The Italian data protection authority, the Garante, has informed
OpenAI
that its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, violates the country's data protection regulations. The regulator states that the techniques used by OpenAI to collect users’ data through
ChatGPT
violate the country's privacy law. This comes in after the authority initiated an investigation in March of last year.
The country’s privacy regulator has been assessing AI platforms’ compliance with the European Union’s
data privacy
laws.
Last year, ChatGPT was briefly banned by the Italian regulator over an alleged breach of EU privacy rules. At that time, the regulator also launched a probe, which has now concluded that ChatGPT
breaches
the bloc’s data privacy law.
Last year in March, the regulator accused ChatGPT's creators, OpenAI, of "unlawful collection of personal data" and ordered them to stop collecting Italian users' data immediately. The regulator blocked the ChatGPT in the country and ordered OpenAI to revise its data collection practices.
Weeks later, in April, OpenAI now restored access to ChatGPT in Italy, saying that it made changes to its platform, which satisfied the requirements of Italian regulators.
The ChatGPT-maker said that it made some changes to its platform, which included a new form that EU users can use to delete their data under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Additionally, the company also developed a tool that will verify the age of users upon signup in Italy. OpenAI also published a help center article that details how it collects personal data, including information on how users can contact its GDPR-mandated data protection officer.
According to a statement given by the Italian regulatory body, the evidence gathered suggests that OpenAI may have violated one or more EU regulations. The regulatory body has given OpenAI and Microsoft 30 days to respond to the notice.
The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was introduced in 2018, dictates that if a company is found to be in breach of these rules, it may face fines of up to 4 per cent of its global turnover
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