Italy's Data Watchdog May Permit ChatGPT To Resume If It Meets Its Requirements

As part of its data protection mandate, Italy's data protection authority issued a list of demands on Wednesday, specifying that OpenAI must meet the demands by April 30 in order to address the agency's concerns towards ChatGPT - an artificial intelligence platform - and prevent the service from being suspended.

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The Microsoft-backed OpenAI (MSFT.O) provider of ChatGPT in Italy, backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), took the service offline just about two weeks ago after the Italian privacy authority, known as Garante, temporarily limited the use of their personal data and launched its own investigation into the complaint.

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Earlier this week, Garante had released a statement that outlined a series of "concrete" demands that are expected to be met by the end of this month

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There will be no suspension of the provisional restriction on the use of the data of Italian users by the authority except in this case. The ChatGPT service will once again be accessible in Italy if this occurs," it said.

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As a result of the agency's decision, OpenAI welcomed it on Thursday.

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A spokesperson for ChatGPT told Trade Algo that the Italian Garante, which had made an earlier decision to discontinue ChatGPT in Italy, is reconsidering its decision as well as looking forward to working with them in order to restore ChatGPT to our Italian customers in the future.

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The Italian government made ChatGPT illegal for the first time in western Europe in the past two years as part of a general ban on the technology, but its rapid development has drawn the attention of many countries' legislators and regulators.

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Due to the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on national security, job creation, education, and the economy, a number of experts have argued that new regulations are needed to regulate it.

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An authority in Italy said that OpenAI must inform users in Italy of its "methods and logic" behind the processing of data for the purposes of handling ChatGPT inquiries and to ensure that user information remains confidential.

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The watchdog has also asked OpenAI to develop tools to help people whose personal data is involved, including non-users who may have inaccurately generated personal data and who may want to request corrections or deletions, if the accuracy of their data cannot be rectified.

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Secondly, there should also be a way for non-users to be able to prevent their personal data from being processed for the purposes of running OpenAI's algorithms in a simple, accessible manner, Garante said.

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Specifically, the company was asked to implement by the end of September an age verification system that will allow users under the age of 13 to be excluded from accessing the site.

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Despite the fact that Guarantor is retaining the right to impose any other measures it deems necessary at the end of the ongoing investigation, the company said it would continue to investigate potential breaches of data protection rules by OpenAI.

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In addition to ChatGPT, other European privacy watchdogs are keeping a close eye on the Italian move on chatbots and are considering whether harsher measures should be taken against them and whether to coordinate their efforts.

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In a request for an evaluation of privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT, Spain's data protection agency has referred the matter to the EU's data protection authority.

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Replika was forbidden by Italy's regulator in February from using the personal data of its users in Italy as a result of a breach of data protection laws. The regulator cited that minors and people with mental health conditions could be at risk.