OpenAI, the maker of the AI-based ChatGPT, has announced that the ban imposed upon it has been lifted, and it is now available again in Italy. The San Francisco-based company complied with the conditions set by the Italian data protection authority and met their deadline of April 30th. In an email statement, the company said they were “excited to welcome back” their Italian users.
ChatGPT is a generative AI system built using online data such as blog posts, digital books and other media. These systems replicate human work and have been receiving a lot of attention over the last few months. Even though AI can be used for creating a lot of positive change, it also raises a lot of ethical and social concerns, which has prompted the European Union to update their draft policies regulating artificial intelligence.
In March, the Italian Garante began investigating the possibility of a data breach and instructed OpenAI to stop processing personal information from Italian users. OpenAI responded quickly to the threat by adding information about how it gathers and uses the data to train its algorithms, as well as utilizing a tool to authenticate the ages of new users. The measures that OpenAI implemented have been approved by the Garante, who called them “welcome”.
OpenAI is a technology company that specializes in artificial intelligence. It is funded by tech giants such as Microsoft, which have expressed interest in collaboration with the company. OpenAI was founded in December 2015 by South African born entrepreneur and engineer, Sam Altman. In 2019, he stepped down from the position of CEO and is now the project partner of OpenAI. Their mission is to ensure artificial general intelligence is developed for the benefit for everyone on Earth and their commitment to safety is commendable.
