Italy's Data Protection Agency Lays Out Demands for ChatGPT to Resume Operations
Italy's data protection agency, Garante, has demanded that OpenAI's ChatGPT meets a set of requirements by April 30 before it can resume operations in Italy. The watchdog had earlier banned the popular chatbot over issues regarding data collection and privacy policies. OpenAI responded by geoblocking access to the service in Italy and issuing refunds to subscribers of the paid version.
Garante's initial issue with ChatGPT was the "absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, to 'train' the algorithms underlying the platform's operation." The authority has now laid out a set of "concrete" demands that OpenAI must meet by the end of April for the service to be made accessible in Italy once again.
The Demands Placed on OpenAI by Garante
- Inform users in Italy of "the methods and logic" behind data processing necessary for ChatGPT operation.
- Provide tools that allow people whose data is involved, even non-users, to request correction of inaccurately generated personal data or their deletion if correction is impossible.
- Allow non-users to oppose the processing of their personal data to run the algorithms in a simple and accessible manner.
- Introduce an age verification system that can exclude access to users under 13 by the end of September.
Garante made it clear that only after the demands are met, would the provisional restrictions on the use of Italian users' data by ChatGPT be lifted, and the service made accessible to users in Italy.
OpenAI has welcomed the agency's decision, stating that it looks forward to working with Garante to make ChatGPT available to customers in Italy soon. Several other countries are also paying attention to the rapid development of ChatGPT, with Spain's data protection agency raising concerns, and the European Data Protection Board setting up a task force to check the chatbot and any AI successors.
