The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has announced the formation of a new task force focused on ChatGPT, an AI platform that has gained a massive following over the past few years. This task force will evaluate the platform’s potential for privacy breaches and develop guidelines for users. This follows temporary bans by Italy, Germany and Spain on the platform, with France recording five complaints from users.
ChatGPT is an AI tool capable of answering questions quickly, thanks to the insights and data gathered from over 100 million users since it was launched in late 2022. This technology rapidly and progressively improves itself with each individual user interaction. A growing concern by governments has been that AI platforms like this pose risks to personal security and privacy. In addition, it is feared that they might eliminate job security due to the automation they offer.
The task force was founded by the EDPB after they held an enforcement action with OpenAI regarding the platform. The secondary objective is to enhance cooperation and communication between the various data protection authorities on the subject. This decision aims to ensure the safety of individual’s data and maintain an appropriate level of protection.
OpenAI is a San Francisco-based research laboratory focusing on Artificial Intelligence. Founded in 2018, it is funded by tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia. Its mission is to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole”. Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI and has been leading the company since its inception. He is an angel investor, business executive and software engineer.
The EDPB’s task force is indicative of the importance data authorities have placed on the protection of people’s data. It aims to ensure that online privacy policies are relatively the same for all platforms to prevent abuse and misuse of user data. As Europeans are getting more and more aware of their privacy rights, the EDPB will strive to maintain them not only with ChatGPT, but also with other AI and machine learning solutions.
