The Italian data-protection authority has blocked advanced AI chatbot ChatGPT, making Italy the first European country to do so.
The authority raised privacy concerns regarding the model, which was created by US start-up Open AI and is supported by Microsoft.
It also stated that it would immediately ban Open AI and initiate an investigation. Since its launch in November 2022, millions of people have used ChatGPT.
Italy’s agency stated that the massive collection and storage of personal data for training the model lacked a legal basis, which influenced the country’s decision to block the advanced chatbot.
On 20th March, the watchdog announced that the app had suffered a data breach that compromised user conversations and payment information. It pointed out that there was no legal justification for the “mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of ‘training’ the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform”.
Additionally, the watchdog expressed concerns about the app’s inability to verify the age of users, which it claimed “exposes minors to highly inappropriate responses that are beyond their level of development and awareness”.
As a result of these concerns, Google’s rival artificial-intelligence chatbot, Bard, is now available exclusively to users who are 18 years or older.
The Italian data-protection authority has instructed Open AI to address its concerns within 20 days, failing which the company may be liable to pay a fine of €20 million ($21.7m) or up to 4% of its annual revenues.
In a recent podcast interview, Open AI CEO Sam Altman openly criticized ChatGPT, labeling it a “horrible product” due to its tendency to generate error messages, simplistic design, and capacity issues.
Unfortunately, a young Belgian man recently took his own life after conversing with an AI chatbot named ELIZA for several weeks. This tragedy has highlighted the need for better citizen protection and the importance of raising awareness about the potential dangers of AI chatbots.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in India has banned the use of ChatGPT, as a prevention method for any type of discrepancy in the upcoming class 10 and 12 board exams. Because, since its launch in November, ChatGPT has gained immense popularity and disrupted the education sector by providing students with assistance in writing essays and preparing for exams.
It has also demonstrated its abilities in creating job application cover letters, coding, and writing articles. Its exceptional performance has even earned praise from Bill Gates, who predicts that ChatGPT will “change our world”.
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