Italy becomes first Western nation to ban ChatGPT, amid privacy concerns
- The country’s Data Protection Authority has issued a temporary ban on OpenAI’s chatbot while launching a probe into a suspected breach of data collection rules
- The company has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 4 per cent of its annual worldwide turnover
Italy’s Data Protection Authority on Friday temporarily banned OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and launched a probe over a suspected breach of the artificial intelligence application’s data collection rules.
The agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft Corp-backed ChatGPT of failing to check the age of its users who are supposed to be aged 13 and above.
ChatGPT has an “absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data” to “train” the chatbot, Garante said. OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 4 per cent of its annual worldwide turnover.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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ChatGPT was still answering questions posted by Italian users on the platform on Friday evening.