ChatGPT is Welcomed Back in Italy

Since the end of March, ChatGPT has not been used in Italy after some internal privacy and data management concerns raised concerns with both national and EU regulators.

One month later, it appears that the problems have been rectified by OpenAI, the company that owns and runs ChatGPT, and artificial intelligence communications technology is once again popular in Italy.

“ChatGPT is available again to our users in Italy,” The San Francisco-based technology firm announced via email. “We are excited to welcome them back, and we remain dedicated to protecting their privacy.”

EU representatives appear to be on board. Italian Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini recently said on Instagram that the government of his nation supports OpenAI and “is committed to helping start-ups and development in Italy.”

Due to data privacy concerns, OpenAI had found itself under regulatory scrutiny from the EU and Italy.

“Last month, the Italian watchdog, known as Garante, ordered OpenAI to temporarily stop processing Italian users’ personal information while it investigated a possible data breach,” the Associated Press reported. “The authority said it didn’t want to hamper AI’s development but emphasized the importance of following the EU’s strict data privacy rules.”

The ChatGPT developer reduced the time for OpenAI to comply with the demands short with the April 28 notice. Garante had set a deadline of April 30 for OpenAI to do so.

The modifications made by OpenAI include a new mechanism that users in the European Union may utilize to delete delicate personal information from the chatbot. This mechanism is based on the safeguards provided by the EU’s General Data Protection law (GDPR) law, which was approved in May 2018.

The ChatGPT platform now requires users to verify their age before logging in, and new clauses in OpenAI’s European charter simplify the company’s ability to gather and use personal data.

Italy may have seen the last of OpenAI, but other nations are closely monitoring how ChatGPT gathers user information, particularly on “data used to train ChatGPT’s algorithms … that the system could sometimes use to generate false information about individuals,” according to the AP.

Investigations of ChatGPT‘s data privacy are either already underway or are being considered by France, Canada, and the U.S. Director of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan has stated that the government will “not hesitate to crack down” on how businesses use AI in their procedures for obtaining information.