The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) is setting up a task force to assess AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, as authorities in Strasbourg and Brussels grapple with the implications of such powerful tools. The Italian data protection authority got a jump start on the issue weeks ago, leading to a ban on ChatGPT outright, due to the lack of an age-verification system, and how it was created without the knowledge of Italian citizens. In Germany, Ulrich Kelber of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information has announced his agency is closely monitoring the Italian situation, with a task force of data protection officers in the works. Additionally, Spanish data protection authorities will investigate the practices of ChatGPT’s creators, OpenAI, to determine if it is compliant with the EU data protection regulations.
The objective of the task force is to have multiple data protection authorities cooperating and exchanging information, in order to develop general, responsible guidelines that will make using AI tools more transparent. This is in line with the European Commission’s effort to pass an appropriate legal framework to regulate the effects of AI, both economically and on individuals, while increasing private and public investments in the technology to 20 billion Euros a year.
OpenAI is the AI research lab, founded by a consortium of world-renowned investors, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The lab specializes in developing and deploying projects centered on the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the real world. ChatGPT is OpenAI’s most recent achievement and is a tool-based on generative pre-training, ‘GPT-3,’ which starts with context-based conversations in text, from applications such as customer support, general discussion and more.
Ulrich Kelber is the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Germany. He has been in office since 2017, following the passage of the GDPR, and has since dedicated much of his time to active enforcement of the GDPR and helping organizations to comply with the regulation. He has extensive expertise in privacy and data protection issues, and is recognized for his success in the area of IT Law.
