Italy Takes The Lead As First Regulator To Block OpenAI's ChatGPT Over Privacy Violations

Italy's privacy regulator blocked OpenAI's ChatGPT service due to privacy violations, making them the first global regulator to do so.

After a cyber security breach last week exposed user conversations and some financial details, the nation's data protection authority launched an investigation into the United States company's collection of personal information.

OpenAI informed customers that the leaked data consisted of their names, billing addresses, credit card types, expiration dates and final four credit card digits, as reported by the Financial Times.

Language models behind ChatGPT have been collecting a vast amount of data, causing concern among experts. OpenAI had over 100 million monthly active users after launching two months ago.

Microsoft's Bing search engine, also powered by OpenAI, attracted 1 million users in 169 countries within two weeks of its release in January.

The watchdog based in Rome has given OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, a 20-day deadline to respond and address its concerns on certain issues. Failure to comply within the time frame may result in a fine of €20 million.

Italy's regulator is investigating ChatGPT due to the mass collection and storage of personal data, without a legal basis for the purpose of algorithm training.

OpenAI received criticism from the regulator for not having a filtration system to confirm underage users. The watchdog stated that these children are exposed to content and information that is unsuitable for their level of maturity.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk and Yoshua Bengio, a pioneer of artificial intelligence (AI), had urged a six-month halt to the development of systems surpassing the recently launched GPT-4, citing significant threats to society.

AI technologies are currently regulated under existing data and digital laws, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Digital Services Act, which only partially oversee generative AI.

The EU is working on regulations to control the use of AI in Europe, with potential fines of up to €30 million or 6 per cent of global annual turnover for companies who do not comply.