Italian privacy watchdog: ChatGPT violates European privacy law

The Italian privacy watchdog has informed OpenAI that the company is suspected of violating privacy. For example, there would be no legal basis for collecting personal data for training the chatbot algorithms.

The supervisor, Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, has released preliminary conclusions in an investigation into OpenAI’s compliance with European privacy legislation. The study’s draft findings have not been released publicly. OpenAI will have 30 days to defend itself against the allegations. If it ultimately turns out that OpenAI has not complied with privacy legislation, the company could face fines of up to 4 percent of its annual turnover. According to previous reporting from The Information, OpenAI generates approximately $1.6 billion in revenue annually.

Italy previously banned the use of ChatGPT in the country for a short time. Even then, the regulator was not satisfied with the way OpenAI processes personal data. In addition, the tool tends to produce inaccurate information about individuals and poses a danger to children. The chatbot was allowed again after about a month. The Italian privacy watchdog said it was satisfied with the changes implemented by OpenAI.