Italian Data Protection Authority Accuses OpenAI Of Violating Data Protection Rules

Italy has notified OpenAI that the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot application violates data protection rules. (photo: dock. chatgpt)

JAKARTA - Italy's data protection authority has notified OpenAI that the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot application violated data protection rules. This was conveyed by the supervisor on Monday, January 29, when the investigation, which began last year, continued.

The authority, known as Garante, is one of the most proactive in the European Union in assessing compliance with AI platforms with the block data privacy regime. Last year, they banned ChatGPT for alleged violations of EU privacy rules.

The service was then reactivated after OpenAI handled related issues, among others, with the user's right to refuse to give approval for the use of personal data to train their algorithms.

At the time, regulators said they would continue their investigation. They have since concluded that there are elements showing one or more potential data privacy violations, as stated in a statement without providing further details.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Garante on Monday said that the Microsoft-backed OpenAI had 30 days to present defense arguments, adding that its investigation would consider work carried out by a European task force consisting of a national privacy watchdog.

Italy was the first Western European country to limit ChatGPT, its rapid development that has caught the attention of lawmakers and regulators.

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced in 2018, any company found to have violated the rules for facing fines of up to 4% of its global turnover.

In December, lawmakers and the EU government agreed to provisional conditions to regulate AI systems such as ChatGPT, bringing steps closer to setting rules governing the technology.