Italy blocks ChatGPT temporarily over privacy concerns
Global News
San Francisco-based OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, announced this week that he's embarking on a six-continent trip in May to talk about the technology with users and developers.
Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government’s privacy watchdog said Friday.
The Italian Data Protection Authority said it was taking provisional action “until ChatGPT respects privacy,” including temporarily limiting the company from processing Italian users’ data.
U.S.-based OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday.
While some public schools and universities around the world have blocked the ChatGPT website from their local networks over student plagiarism concerns, it’s not clear how Italy would block it at a nationwide level.
The move also is unlikely to affect applications from companies that already have licenses with OpenAI to use the same technology driving the chatbot, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
The AI systems that power such chatbots, known as large language models, are able to mimic human writing styles based on the huge trove of digital books and online writings they have ingested.
The Italian watchdog said OpenAI must report within 20 days what measures it has taken to ensure the privacy of users’ data or face a fine of up to either 20 million euros (nearly US$22 million) or four per cent of annual global revenue.
The agency’s statement cites the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and noted that ChatGPT suffered a data breach on March 20 involving “users’ conversations” and information about subscriber payments.