ROME — Italy’s data safety watchdog mentioned Friday it has fined OpenAI 15 million euros ($15.6 million) after wrapping up a probe into the gathering of personal data by the U.S. synthetic intelligence firm’s in style chatbot ChatGPT.
The nation’s privacy watchdog, referred to as Garante, mentioned its investigation confirmed that OpenAI processed users’ personal data to coach ChatGPT “with out having an sufficient authorized foundation and violated the precept of transparency and the associated data obligations in the direction of users”.
OpenAI dubbed the choice “disproportionate” and mentioned it’s going to attraction.
“When the Garante ordered us to cease providing ChatGPT in Italy in 2023, we labored with them to reinstate it a month later,” an OpenAI spokesperson mentioned Friday in an emailed assertion. “They’ve since acknowledged our industry-leading method to defending privacy in AI, but this high quality is almost 20 occasions the income we made in Italy throughout the related interval.”
OpenAI added, nonetheless, it remained “dedicated to working with privacy authorities worldwide to supply useful AI that respects privacy rights.”
The investigation, launched final 12 months, additionally discovered that OpenAI didn’t present an “sufficient age verification system” to stop users below 13 years of age from being uncovered to inappropriate AI-generated content material, the watchdog mentioned.
The Italian authority additionally ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month marketing campaign on completely different Italian media to lift public consciousness about ChatGPT, particularly in regard to data assortment.
The booming reputation of generative synthetic intelligence programs like ChatGPT has drawn scrutiny from regulators on each side of the Atlantic.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have been inspecting OpenAI and different corporations which have performed a key half in the AI growth, whereas governments world wide have been drawing up guidelines to guard towards dangers posed by AI programs, led by the European Union’s AI Act, a complete rulebook for synthetic intelligence.
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AP Enterprise Author Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report