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The
country’s privacy watchdog, known as Garante, said its
investigation showed that OpenAI processed users’ personal data
to train ChatGPT “without having an adequate legal basis and
violated the principle of transparency and the related
information obligations towards users”.
OpenAI dubbed the decision “disproportionate” and said it will
appeal.
“When the Garante ordered us to stop offering ChatGPT in Italy
in 2023, we worked with them to reinstate it a month later,” an
OpenAI spokesperson said Friday in an emailed statement.
“They’ve since recognized our industry-leading approach to
protecting privacy in AI, yet this fine is nearly 20 times the
revenue we made in Italy during the relevant period.”
OpenAI added, however, it remained “committed to working with
privacy authorities worldwide to offer beneficial AI that
respects privacy rights.”
The investigation, launched last year, also found that OpenAI
didn’t provide an “adequate age verification system” to prevent
users under 13 years of age from being exposed to inappropriate
AI-generated content, the watchdog said.
The Italian authority also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month
campaign on different Italian media to raise public awareness
about ChatGPT, specifically in regard to data collection.
The booming popularity of generative artificial intelligence
systems like ChatGPT has drawn scrutiny from regulators on both
sides of the Atlantic.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have been examining OpenAI and
other companies that have played a key part in the AI boom,
while governments around the world have been drawing up rules to
protect against risks posed by AI systems, led by the European
Union's AI Act, a comprehensive rulebook for artificial
intelligence.
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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this
report
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