OpenAI’s ChatGPT is under the eye of the storm again. The artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot has now been accused of breaching rules of data protection, according to Italy’s Data Protection Authority (DPA). An inquiry by the Italian watchdog has found data privacy violations by the chatbot. Reports suggest these are related to collection of personal data and age protections.
The generative AI parent – OpenAI has been given 30 days to respond with its defence.
In a statement, DPA has stated that the available evidence pointed to the existence of breaches of the provisions as provided in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is specifically related to mass collection of users’ data, to help train the algorithm. The regulator also cited concerns of younger users being exposed to inappropriate content as generated by the chatbot.
This isn’t the first time that the European country has taken a stance on data protection with regards to ChatGPT. It was the first Western country to block the generative AI chatbot in March 2023 again due to privacy concerns.
While ChatGPT was reinstated within four weeks, after addressing the issues raised, Italy’s DPA that works along with the European Union’s Data Protection Board had launched a fact-finding activity, which has now found the said data privacy violations. It had set up a special task force to monitor ChatGPT in April 2023.
The GDPR law states, firms that are in violation of the rules can be fined up to 4 per cent of the company’s global turnover. The DPA had mentioned in April 2023 itself, on implementing an age verification system, and the planning and conducting of an information campaign for the users on their right to opt-out from processing their personal data for training the algorithms.
