A few days ago, OpenAI announced it was tightening privacy controls for its GPT-3 chatbot ChatGPT to make it available again to users in Italy. This is following a temporary suspension in the European Union’s 27 Member States due to data protection concerns. Web users with Italian IP addresses are no longer met with a notification stating the service is “disabled for users in Italy”. Instead, they are met with a note that OpenAI is “pleased to resume offering ChatGPT in Italy” and need to confirm they meet the age requirements if they want to use the service.
Taking steps to give users control over their data, OpenAI has indicated that users can opt-out from their data being used to train the AI. In addition, it has introduced an online form for users to ask for their data to be deleted. Lastly, it has provided mechanisms for data subjects to obtain erasure of information that is considered inaccurate.
The Italian Data Authority (Garante) has informed OpenAI that it needs to implement certain measures. This included adding age-gating to prevent minors from accessing the service, amending the legal basis claimed for processing local users’ data, and conducting a local information campaign to inform users of how their data is being processed and their right to opt-out.
OpenAI, a US-based company, accepted these changes and other measures to address privacy matters, in order to have the suspension lifted. An OpenAI spokesperson stated, “We are excited to welcome them back, and we remain dedicated to protecting their privacy. We have addressed or clarified the issues raised by the Garante, including”. OpenAI also mentioned that they are looking forward to remain constructive discussions with The Garante.
OpenAI is a multi-national artificial intelligence company based in San Francisco, famous for its work on deep learning, unsupervised machine learning and generative models. Founded in 2015 by deep-learning researcher and entrepreneur Sam Altman and world renown researcher, Elon Musk, OpenAI’s main aim is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) safely and ethically.
