OpenAI’s chatbot AI service, ChatGPT, has been granted permission to operate in Italy after the Italian government lifted its ban on the service. The ban was put in place in March by the Italian data protection agency Garante, which expressed concerns that ChatGPT violates Italian data protection regulations.
OpenAI has now addressed these concerns, including adding privacy controls to ChatGPT. This setting lets users turn off chat history and prevent OpenAI from using that data for learning purposes. Furthermore, when signing up for the website, users will be required to verify their age, and those under the age of 18 will require parental or guardian consent.
In a statement, Italy’s data protection authority welcomed the measures taken by OpenAI. Still, it urged the company to comply with other requests by Garante, such as introducing an age verification system and implementing an information campaign to inform Italians about the right to opt out of processing personal data for training algorithms.
The European Data Protection Commission also established an ad hoc task force to conduct fact-finding activities on OpenAI, indicating that the corporation would be closely monitored for GDPR compliance.
ChatGPT uses artificial intelligence to generate responses to text-based queries and conversations, making it a popular tool for customer service and other online interactions. However, privacy advocates have criticised the service, claiming that it collects and uses personal data in ways that violate data protection regulations.
With the lifting of the ban in Italy, OpenAI will need to continue to work to ensure that ChatGPT complies with data protection regulations and address concerns from regulators and users about using personal data.
