The head of Italy’s privacy watchdog, Pasquale Stanzione, has expressed hope that OpenAI would make necessary changes to its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, so it can come back online in the country at the end of April. The platform was temporarily blocked by the watchdog at the end of March for raising questions about data privacy.
Stanzione noted that the company has shown a willingness to make these changes and that the service could be re-launched on April 30, as long as useful steps are taken to improve its safety. This includes verifying the age of users, ensuring data is being used solely for the purpose of algorithm training and informing users properly.
ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, a US-based tech company, and caught the eye of tech firms and venture capitalists worldwide due to its remarkable capabilities of generating essays, songs and even news articles based on a few words and phrases. Similarly, OpenAI concluded a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft, which uses ChatGPT in its search engine and other projects.
OpenAI is an American company founded in 2015, specializing in artificial intelligence research. The company’s mission is to advance digital intelligence in the way that benefits humanity as a whole. Based in San Francisco, the company works on developing general AI, including topics such as machine learning, robotics, and natural language processing.
Pasquale Stanzione is the current Head of the Italian Data Protection Authority, which was established to oversee the protection of the personal data of Italian citizens and businesses. He was appointed as Head of the Intitute in November 2019 and with his leadership, has taken decisive steps in order to protect data privacy, including the temporary block of ChatGPT. Stanzione is a former corporate lawyer who has previously worked for the Bank of Italy, focusing on credit and banking regulations.
