- OpenAI has stated they will be offering an “Age Verification” tool in Italy during the Sign-up process to restrict users under the age of 13 from accessing ChatGPT.
- A new “OpenAI Personal Data Removal Request” form has been enabled to allow users to have a right to object to the usage of their personal data by the OpenAI models.
- OpenAI has stated they will be providing greater visibility of privacy policy.
Italy Restores ChatGPT after responding to Regulator
Italy was the first ever European country to place a ban on OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. But, now ChatGPT has been reactivated in Italy after ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI addressed the concerns raised by Italy’s watchdogs on data protection, which was confirmed by the company and agency on 28 April.
In a statement, the company said, “Our users in Italy can now access ChatGPT again. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome them back, and we remain determined to protect their privacy.”
Last month OpenAI’s ChatGPT was facing a temporary ban in the entire country after the data protection authorities of Italy called “Garante” decided to ban the chatbot due to concerns about the breach of privacy rules by the AI chatbot.
A deadline is initiated by Italy’s data protection authority, Garante till Sunday for OpenAI to address all the concerns raised over the breach of privacy and data protection in order to start operating the AI chatbot ChatGPT again in the country, by disabling the ban.
Garante has addressed the concerns and issues over ChatGPT by stating, there’s an absence of any legal basis to justify the collection and storage of users’ personal data to “train” the AI chatbot models.
In addition, ChatGPT was also accused by Garante of failing to place an “Age verification” tool on ChatGPT which can raise risks of minors operating the AI chatbot since the AI chatbot is only accessible to users aged 13 or above. OpenAI said they are offering a tool to verify its users’ age during the Sign-up process to avoid minors from operating the AI chatbot.
OpenAI Personal Data Removal Request Form
On April 28, the company’s spokesman indicated that they are increasing transparency about their privacy rules and scrutinizing the user content opt-out form. A new form for the European Union will provide an opportunity for consumers to object to the use of personal data to train AI models.
A form for “OpenAI Personal Data Removal Request” has been activated, allowing users to request that OpenAI refrain from processing or utilizing their personal information. Evidence of data processing by relevant prompts is also included. For the form to be evaluated, users must offer complete, accurate, and relevant answers.
Garante expressed they acknowledge the actions taken by the creators of ChatGPT to incorporate technological advancement with people’s rights. They hope the company continues to keep working on this path of compliance with European data protection regulations.
Earlier this month, OpenAI was blocked by Italian watchdogs over breaching privacy rules. OpenAI addressed the ban of ChatGPT in Italy by issuing a letter saying, “We regret to inform you that ChatGPT has been disabled for users in Italy due to the request of the Italian Garante. By stating “They won’t allow processing of information and data by ChatGPT by breaching the privacy regulations.”
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, immediately restricted the processing of data from Italian users. In addition, an investigation into the facts has been launched,” the agency stated.
Furthermore, the company requested a refund for all users in Italy who purchased a ChatGPT Plus subscription (a premium plan for ChatGPT) in March. Last month, the payment information of a few ChatGPT Plus users was compromised due to a bug, which OpenAI also acknowledged.
According to OpenAI, ChatGPT was pulled offline owing to a fault in an open-source library that caused some users to read titles from another active user’s chat history.
%20(1).png)
