Italy has imposed restrictions on the use of chatbot ChatGPT

The Italian Data Protection Authority has introduced temporary restrictions to use the chat bot ChatGPT to process the data of Italian users, justifying this decision by the fact of violation of the country’s legislation on personal data. In doing so, it became the first Western country to block, albeit temporarily, the use of this chatbot created by the American startup OpenAI.

In addition, the Italian agency is investigating whether the chatbot complies with the General Data Protection Regulation in force in the EU. According to the regulator, the investigation is related to events March 20, when OpenAI suspended ChatGPT due to a glitch. This failure resulted in the leakage of users’ personal data, including their email addresses, billing addresses, the last four digits of credit card numbers and their expiration dates, as well as the leakage of user conversations, and then the loss of users’ access to their own past conversations.

Among the claims of the Italian regulator is that ChatGPT does not check the age of users, while people under the age of 13 should not use this chat bot. The regulator said that OpenAI has 20 days to prepare a response explaining how it intends to solve the problems indicated by the Italian side. If OpenAI refuses to comply with the requirements of the regulator, the company may face a fine of up to 4% of annual turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater).

Alena Miklashevskaya