Italy says ChatGPT can be back if it makes 'useful' changes | Tech
The head of Italy's privacy watchdog is hopeful that OpenAI will make necessary adjustments to ChatGPT to allow it to be back online in the country by the end of April. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot that caused a global sensation when it was released last year for generating essays, songs, exams, and news articles from brief prompts. However, Italy's watchdog temporarily blocked the chatbot in March over data privacy concerns, making it the first Western country to take action against the popular AI chatbot.
The authority raised concerns over the lack of clarity on whose data is being collected and that the wrong answers given by the chatbot were not being handled properly. The watchdog also accused OpenAI of exposing children to "absolutely unsuitable answers." In response to the concerns raised by the authority, OpenAI was asked to make "useful" changes to the ChatGPT platform.
Italy's Data Protection Authority chief, Pasquale Stanzione, said that the chatbot can be reopened on April 30, subject to OpenAI taking useful steps. He also added that users' ages must be verified and OpenAI should "indicate a method to reduce the risk of wrong answers." Users should also be "clearly informed that their data is being used for a specific purpose, the training of the algorithm."
The success of ChatGPT garnered OpenAI a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft, which uses the technology in its Bing search engine and other programs. It also sparked a gold rush among other tech firms and venture capitalists, with Google hurrying out its own chatbot, and investors pouring cash into all manner of AI projects.
