Italy privacy regulator opens probe on OpenAI over ChatGPT

ITALIAN privacy regulators said on Friday (Mar 31) that they launched a probe on OpenAI concerning its ChatGPT tool and techniques used to gather users’ personal data.

The country’s data protection authority in a statement cited a lack of a legal basis to justify pooling and storing user data to train the algorithms used on ChatGPT. The regulator also temporarily suspended data gathering on the platform and noted its concerns on a lack of filters to assure that users are over 13 years old.

The Rome-based watchdog gave OpenAI 20 days to respond, after which it could be subject to a fine of as much as 20 million euros (S$28.9 million) or up to 4 per cent of its annual revenue.

OpenAI’s popular tool ChatGPT has spurred excitement as well as controversy in recent months. A prominent US tech ethics group filed a complaint on Thursday with the US Federal Trade Commission urging the regulator to halt further commercial deployment of new generations of artificial intelligence technology that powers ChatGPT.

San Francisco-based OpenAI is backed by Microsoft, which along with Alphabet’s Google has been using artificial intelligence to enhance their products.

A representative for Microsoft wasn’t immediately available for comment. BLOOMBERG