Italy bans ChatGPT with immediate effect

ROME: Authorities in Italy have blocked chatbot ChatGPT with immediate effect in the country. With this, Italy becomes the first European country to block the advanced Artificial Intelligence software, which is capable of emulating and elaborate human conversations among other actions. Italian data protection authority on Friday (local time) has said that it is blocking the Microsoft backed chatbot developed by US start up OpenAI and will investigate whether it complied with the country’s General Data Protection Regulation.

A data breach affecting ChatGPT users’ conversations and information on payments by subscribers to the service had been reported on March 20, the Italian watchdog said. Several countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have blocked ChatGPT, which came into existence in November 2022.

The Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) said it has opened an investigation against ChatGPT and the US Company OpenAI.

“No way for ChatGPT to continue processing data in breach of privacy laws. The Italian SA imposed an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of Italian users’ data by OpenAI, the US-based company developing and managing the platform. An inquiry into the facts of the case was initiated as well,” the Authority stated as per a release on its website.

The authority said that it noted the lack of information to users and all interested parties whose data is collected by OpenAI, but above all the absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, for the purpose of “train” the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform. (ANI)

Also Read: All you Need to Know About OpenAI’s Latest Release GPT-4

Also Watch: