Italy temporarily banned ChatGPT last month over data privacy concerns, but has unblocked it, the owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot said Friday.
An OpenAI spokesperson said, “ChatGPT is now available again for users in Italy. We welcome users and remain committed to protecting their personal data.”
ChatGPT was a global sensation when it was released last year to generate news articles from essays, songs, exams and even short prompts.
But critics worry about how ChatGPT and its competitors collect and process data.
In March, Italy became the first Western country to take action against popular AI chatbots.
The country’s data protection oversight agency said OpenAI, the US company that developed ChatGPT, has no legal basis to justify collecting and storing large amounts of personal data to train the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform. was
Officials also highlighted a lack of clarity about whose data is being collected.
The company said inaccurate information provided by the chatbot was not properly handled, and accused the company of exposing children to “completely inappropriate answers.”
OpenAI now has information about “how training data is collected and used” on its website, and ChatGPT and OpenAI homepages have “greater visibility” about their policies regarding personal data.
The company also said it has implemented a tool to “verify the age of users in Italy” after logging in.
Italian authorities on Friday acknowledged “measures taken to combine technological progress with respect for people’s rights”.
