Privacy watchdog to talk to OpenAI on data ban Wednesday – English

(ANSA) – ROME, APR 4 – Representatives of American artificial
intelligence (AI) research laboratory OpenAI are to talk to
Italy’s privacy watchdog in a video-conference Wednesday after
the authority on Friday temporarily restricted Italian data
gathering by its ChatGPT chatbot, the watchdog said Tuesday.
   
The watchdog blocked ChatGPT charging OpenAI with possibly
illicitly harvesting the personal data of Italian users.
   
It said the chatbot’s activities would be suspended until it met
Italian privacy standards and regulations.
   
The watchdog also opened a probe.
   
The privacy authority cited a failure to inform users and all
those whose data were gathered by OpenAI, and also, above all,
the absence of a juridical basis justifying the data harvesting
and the massive storage of personal data.
   
The watchdog said Tuesday “the initiative (to talk over
video-conference), which has been appreciated by the Watchdog,
follows a letter in which the company replied to the Guarantor
yesterday to express its immediate willingness to collaborate
with the Authority in order to respect European privacy
discipline and reach a shared solution able to resolve the
critical profiles raised with regard to data treatment”.
   
The temporary bar on ChatGPT activities is the first of its kind
in the world.
   
It has garnered headlines across the globe, amid ever more
intense scrutiny of chatbots. (ANSA).