ChatGPT ban in Italy: European nations to consider stronger restrictions

The decision by Italy to temporarily ban ChatGPT has encouraged other European nations to investigate the necessity for stronger restrictions on the hugely popular chatbots and whether such measures should be coordinated.

Although European legislators disagree on the scope and content of the EU AI Act, some regulators are discovering that current tools, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which gives users control over their personal information, can be applied to the rapidly developing class of generative AI companies.

Generative AI, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, relies on algorithms to generate remarkably human responses to text queries based on analyzing large volumes of data, some of which may be owned by internet users.

The Italian agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT users and the "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the chatbot.

"The points they raise are fundamental and show that GDPR does offer tools for the regulators to be involved and engaged into shaping the future of AI," said Dessislava Savova, partner at law firm Clifford Chance.

Privacy regulators in France and Ireland have reached out to counterparts in Italy to find out more about the basis of the ban. Germany could follow in Italy's footsteps by blocking ChatGPT over data security concerns, the German commissioner for data protection told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

"We are following up with the Italian regulator," said a spokesperson for Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner. "We will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter."

The privacy regulator in Sweden, however, said it had no plan to ban ChatGPT nor was it in contact with the Italian watchdog. Spain's regulator said it had not received any complaint about ChatGPT but did not rule out a future investigation.

Italy's Garante, like other privacy regulators, is independent of the government and was also among the first to formally warn Chinese-owned TikTok about breaching of existing European Union privacy rules.

While the privacy commissioners favour more regulation, the governments are more lenient.

Italy's deputy prime minister has criticized its own regulator's decision by calling it "excessive" and a German government spokesman said a ban of ChatGPT would not be necessary.

The Italian authority's move last week was aimed at starting a dialogue with the company to address the issues raised over ChatGPT's compliance to EU data protection rules and not to ban the tool, a source familiar with the matter said.

OpenAI has not responded to regulators over the weekend the source said. Meanwhile, OpenAI has taken ChatGPT offline in Italy on Friday. It did not respond to questions about other European regulators looking into potential violation in their countries.

It has no offices in the European Union.

OpenAI, whose artificial intelligence platform took the world by storm after its launch in November, said on Friday (31) it actively works to reduce personal data in training its AI systems.

The Italian investigation into OpenAI was launched after a nine-hour cyber security breach last month led to people being shown excerpts of other users' ChatGPT conversations and their financial information.