Italy temporarily bans ChatGPT over data privacy concerns

The Italian government has banned ChatGPT, the artificial
intelligence tool, over data privacy concerns.

Italy is the first country to restrict the use of ChatGPT
since its popularity exploded globally in recent months.

On Friday, the Italian data protection agency announced that
it would immediately block the chatbot from collecting Italian users’ data
while authorities investigate OpenAI, the San-Francisco based company behind
the ChatGPT.

It described the move as a temporary measure “until ChatGPT
respects privacy”.

The agency, also known as Garante, accused OpenAI of failing
to check the age of ChatGPT’s users who are supposed to be aged 13 or above.

Garante said OpenAI had “no legal basis” for using the data
it had amassed “to train the algorithms that power the platform.”

The agency gave OpenAI an ultimatum of 20 days to respond to
the order and provide the measures it has taken in response to its concerns.

Speaking on the development, OpenAI said it has disabled
ChatGPT for Italian users at the government’s request.

The company said it believes it complies with privacy laws
in Europe and would work closely with Italy’s privacy regulator.

“We are committed to protecting people’s privacy and we
believe we comply with GDPR and other privacy laws,” OpenAI said.

“We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI
systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about
private individuals.”