ChatGPT, released by the Microsoft-owned OpenAI, has been temporarily banned by Italian government agencies due to data security concerns.
Following the same, on Monday, that is April 3rd, 2023, the German Commissioner for Data Protection told Handelsblatt that Germany may follow in Italy’s footsteps and impose a ban on the usage of the AI-driven conversational chatbot until a thorough investigation is launched in-to how the AI application uses information for analysis to produce results.
Currently, Germany is reviewing the evidence behind the ban move and the inputs from the government of Italy. France and Ireland are also planning to contact the Italian data watchdog to share and discuss their findings on how the chatbot use could raise data security concerns.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has given its staff members a two-week timeframe to study and analyze the findings, after which it could also impose a ban on the use of OpenAI product/s.
Sweden has issued a press statement saying it has no plan to ban ChatGPT, nor is it intending to contact the Italian watchdog for its apprehensions over the usage of the said conversational chat technology.
Note: According to European data laws, online services should deploy an automated software mechanism to identify and block those who are below the age of 13 from using the service. Since Microsoft ChatGPT doesn’t have such checks, Italy happens to be the first western coun-try to impose a temporary ban on the AI Chatbot that recently reached 100 million monthly ac-tive users since its commercial release in November 2022. The move was made after the Italian government was questioned by some elected representatives about the accuracy of info that sur-faced last month, leaking chat titles and payment-related info (billing first and last names, last 4 digits of credit cards, the card expiration date, and billing addresses) on the screens of some users that weren’t related to the respected leaked accounts in any way.
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