OpenAI’s ChatGPT Blocked In Italy by Privacy Watchdog – using kids as an excuse is almost always flimsy

Italy’s privacy watchdog said Friday it had blocked the controversial robot ChatGPT, saying the artificial intelligence app did not respect user data and could not verify users’ age.

The decision “with immediate effect” will result in “the temporary limitation of the processing of Italian user data vis-a-vis OpenAI”, the Italian Data Protection Authority said.

The agency has launched an investigation.

[…]

The watchdog said that on March 20, the app experienced a data breach involving user conversations and payment information.

It said there was no legal basis to justify “the mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of ‘training’ the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform”.

It also said that since there was no way to verify the age of users, the app “exposes minors to absolutely unsuitable answers compared to their degree of development and awareness.”

It said the company had 20 days to respond how it would address the watchdog’s concerns, under penalty of a 20-million-euro ($21.7-million) fine, or up to 4 percent of annual revenues.

[…]

Source: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Blocked In Italy: Privacy Watchdog | Barron’s

I am pretty sure none of the search engines verify age and store user data (ok duckduckgo is an exception) or give answers that may “expose” the little snowflake “minors to absolutely unsuitable answers compared to their degree of development and awareness.”

There is a race on to catch up to OpenAI and people are obviously losing, so crushing OpenAI is the way to go.

Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

 robin@edgarbv.com  https://www.edgarbv.com