(Rome) The artificial intelligence program ChatGPT, blocked a month ago in Italy for violating personal data legislation, is again authorized in the peninsula, OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, said on Friday.
“ChatGPT is available again for our users in Italy. We are delighted to welcome them back and remain committed to protecting their personal data,” an OpenAI spokesperson said.
The Italian Personal Data Protection Authority had blocked ChatGPT at the end of March, which it accused of not respecting European regulations and of not having a system to verify the age of minor users.
The Authority also criticized ChatGPT for “the absence of an information note for users whose data is collected by OpenAI […] for the purpose of ‘training’ the algorithms running the platform”.
Furthermore, while the program is intended for people over 13, “the Authority emphasizes that the absence of any filter to verify the age of users exposes minors to absolutely no answers. commensurate with their level of development”.
OpenAI now publishes information on its site about how it “collects” and “uses training-related data” and provides “greater visibility” on the ChatGPT and OpenAI homepage of the policy regarding personal data.
The company also claims to have implemented a tool “to verify in Italy the age of users” once they connect.
The Italian Authority acknowledged on Friday “the steps forward taken to combine technological progress with respect for the rights of individuals”.
ChatGPT appeared in November and was quickly taken over by users impressed with its ability to clearly answer difficult questions, write sonnets or write computer code.
Funded in particular by the computer giant Microsoft, which has added it to several of its services, it is sometimes presented as a potential competitor to the Google search engine.
On April 13, Spain announced the opening of an investigation into ChatGPT, the day the European Union launched a working group to foster European cooperation on the subject.
