OpenAI, an artificial intelligence-powered company, has recently announced that its popular ChatGPT chatbot is unbanned in Italy. The chatbot was temporarily banned by Garante, the Italian data protection agency, in March due to a data breach, as well as for not verifying the age of its users, according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In order to ensure its compliance with the GDPR and other applicable regulations, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, attended a videoconference meeting with the Italian data protection agency’s representatives. During the meeting, the company promised to strengthen its safety protocol, which includes introducing child’s protection feature. The ChatGPT was then enabled to allow users with the parental approval of 13 or over, while users 18 and over can make use of it without the parental control. Moreover, OpenAI mentioned in a blog post that such data collection tools as its ChatGPT never made use of data to advertise or gain profits.
On April 28, Sam Altman posted a tweet that the ChatGPT is available in Italy once again, however, no detailed information was shared. All we can do is assume that OpenAI has satisfied the information practices and criteria of the European Union and Italian data protection standards.
While this chatbot was under the ban, OpenAI developed a new feature of privacy-protection for the users, which provides them with the freedom to analyze their conversations and specify which of the conversations may be included in the training process of the OpenAI models. Another dedicated tool, the ChatGPT Business, includes stronger data management options and is scheduled to be released soon.
OpenAI is a powerful AI company based in San Francisco, California. Founded in December 2015, the company was initially funded by Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, with other well-known venture capitalists later joining. OpenAI’s mission is to be a leader in developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) and ensuring that these technologies are used to benefit humanity.
Sam Altman is an entrepreneur and investor best known as the former president of Y Combinator and the current CEO of OpenAI. Altman was a founding investor in many successful tech start-ups including Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit and Instacart. Altman is also the co-chairman of the Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030 research program, which focuses on the advancement of artificial general intelligence. He is also a vocal advocate of sustainability initiatives and helps catalyze the development of technologies to address climate change.
