MILAN, Italy: Italy’s data protection authority announced on Monday that OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot application ChatGPT violated data protection rules, moving forward with an investigation it started last year.
The Italian data protection authority, known as Garante, is one of the most active in the European Union in assessing whether AI platforms comply with the region’s data privacy regime. Last year, it banned ChatGPT for allegedly violating European Union privacy rules.
The service was relaunched after OpenAI addressed issues surrounding, among other things, users’ right to refuse consent to the use of their personal data to train algorithms. At the time, regulators said they would continue their investigation. Elements then said in a statement that it had concluded that it indicated one or more potential data privacy violations, but did not provide details.
OpenAI said in an emailed statement that it believes its practices are in line with EU privacy law. “We are actively working to reduce personal data in the training of systems like ChatGPT,” it said, adding, “We plan to continue to work constructively with Galante.” Garante said on Monday that Microsoft-backed OpenAI has 30 days to submit a defense argument, and its investigation will take into account work by a European task force made up of national privacy watchdogs. he added.
Italy was the first country in Western Europe to regulate ChatGPT, and its rapid development has attracted the attention of lawmakers and regulators. Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018, companies found to be in violation of the rules will be subject to fines of up to 4% of their global sales.
In December, EU lawmakers and governments agreed on interim conditions for regulating AI systems such as ChatGPT, moving one step closer to enacting rules governing the technology.