ChatGPT temporarily blocked in Italy

The Italian Data Protection Agency has temporarily restricted OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot from using personal data in Italy, according to a statement. message regulator.

The agency also said it would investigate how user data is being handled. The regulator, pointing to the data leak that occurred on March 20, said that “there is no legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data in order to “learn” the algorithms that underlie the operation of the platform.”

The regulator also said that the service, intended for people over 13 years old, does not have any filters to check the age of users. However, the information provided by ChatGPT does not always correspond to the actual data, which leads to inaccurate processing of personal data.

OpenAI, which does not have an EU office, has 20 days to communicate through its representative in the European Economic Area how it plans to bring ChatGPT into compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Otherwise, the company faces a fine of up to 4% of its turnover.

Formerly non-profit organization Future of Life published a letter calling for an “immediate suspension” of AI systems training. This was signed by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, philanthropist Andrew Yang, and about a thousand other researchers. “AI systems should only be developed when we are confident that their effects will be positive and the risks manageable,” the organization said in a statement.

As Vedomosti wrote earlier, against the background of the popularity of ChatGPT and Midjourney from August 2022 to February 2023, the number of users of neural networks increased by 5 times, and the duration of interaction with AI – by 3 times, Vedomosti wrote at the end of winter. The rise in popularity of GPT chats has sparked a debate on several fronts in the media and the internet. We are talking about both the change in the labor market due to digitalization, and the vulnerability of certain categories – for example, specialists associated with the accumulation and systematization of knowledge (scientists, lawyers), or representatives of creative professions.

At the same time, ChatGPT itself predicts a partial replacement of sales managers, marketing specialists, secretaries, and administrative workers. As a tool, the service can be used by teachers, psychologists and financial consultants. ChatGPT notes that with the development of the service, new professions may arise.

Now in the Russian Federation the development of the AI ​​sector is being carried out by “Yandex“, SberbankVK, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Speech Technologies (STC), Skoltech, Just AI, etc.