German fashion retailer Zalando SE will be introducing a shopping assistant based on OpenAI’s enterprise-grade ChatGPT software in the near future. The assistant is designed to interpret customers’ inquiries and provide recommendations – like clothing suitable for a specific environment or weather conditions – based on their searches. Jan Wittrodt, Zalando’s privacy head, emphasized that ChatGPT will not have access to any customer information, saying that all data collected from queries will be deleted after 30 days.
Recently, OpenAI unveiled several new features for the public version of ChatGPT, giving customers the option to opt-in to have their searches utilized to train the tool, with all unsaved searches expiring within a month. The enterprise version of the service already had similar measures in place and the changes are not expected to affect it.
ChatGPT has sparked intense scrutiny, particularly in the EU and US. Even though OpenAI and Zalando have taken the necessary steps to ensure customer privacy, the Biden administration is weighing the prospect of establishing new regulations for AI tools such as ChatGPT, out of concerns that they can be used to propagate harmful information or introduce discrimination. Last month, the Italian data protection regulator instituted a temporary ban on use of ChatGPT, claiming that it violated the EU’s GDPR, but later rescinded it after OpenAI opted to revise certain practices.
RELX PLC, owners of legal information provider LexisNexis and Elsevier – a medical and business publisher – have been exploring the role of ChatGPT in their operations, but have yet to deploy it. The European Data Protection Board tasked a group to investigate ChatGPT and OpenAI founder Sam Altman is attempting to move toward the formation of an international governing union to gradually reduce the executive team’s authority over their technology.
Ajay Chowdhury, a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, encouraged companies to protect ChatGPT by drafting policies that prevent workers from entering proprietary or confidential information into the system, as well as removing any personal data collected in applications based on it. He also highlighted that the EU is drafting new laws to address AI risks and protect citizens, which could be a better solution than GDPR.
The introduction of ChatGPT to Zalando is a testament to its increasing popularity amid corporate circles, in spite of the related regulatory concerns. Users of the system must take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the law and guarantee customer data protection, so that the benefits of deploying this technology can be enjoyed.
