The Italian government is temporarily blocking an artificial intelligence software called ChatGPT due to a data breach and possible violation of European Union data protection rules. The Italian Data Protection Authority is taking action to ensure that ChatGPT respects privacy, including limiting the company from processing Italian users’ data. US-based OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, has disabled the chatbot for Italian users at the government’s request.
While some schools and universities have previously blocked ChatGPT over plagiarism concerns, Italy’s action is the first nation-scale restriction of a mainstream AI platform by a democracy. The Italian watchdog has given OpenAI 20 days to report on what measures it has taken to ensure the privacy of users’ data or face a fine of up to 20 million euros or 4% of annual global revenue.
The Italian agency has cited the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and noted a recent data breach involving ChatGPT users’ conversations and information about subscriber payments. OpenAI has said that it is working to reduce personal data in training its AI systems and that it hopes to make ChatGPT available in Italy again soon.
