Several public schools and universities around the world have blocked the ChatGPT website from their local networks due to student plagiarism concerns, but it’s not clear how Italy will block it on a national level.Illustrated by Dado Lubitsch/Reuters
ROME (AP) — Italy is temporarily blocking artificial intelligence software ChatGPT following a data breach to investigate possible violations of tough European Union data protection rules, government privacy watchdog says said on Friday.
Italy’s data protection authority said it was taking interim measures such as temporarily restricting the processing of Italian users’ data “until ChatGPT respects privacy”.
US-based OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, did not return a request for comment on Friday.
Several public schools and universities around the world have blocked the ChatGPT website from their local networks over concerns of student plagiarism, but it is not yet known how and when Italy will block it on a national level. I did not know.
The move is also unlikely to affect applications from companies that already have OpenAI licenses that use the same technology that powers chatbots, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
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The AI systems powering such chatbots, known as large-scale language models, are able to mimic human writing styles based on large amounts of ingested digital books and online texts.
Italian watchdogs have said OpenAI must report within 20 days the steps it has taken to ensure the privacy of users’ data. Otherwise, he will be fined up to €20 million (approximately $22 million) or his 4% of annual global turnover.
The agency’s statement, citing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, noted that ChatGPT suffered a data breach on March 20 that included information about “user conversations” and subscriber payments.
OpenAI previously announced that ChatGPT had to be taken offline on March 20th to fix a bug that allowed some users to see the title or subject of other users’ chat histories.
“Our research also found that 1.2% of ChatGPT Plus users may have exposed their personal data to another user,” the company said. “We believe the number of users whose data was actually exposed to others is very small, and we have reached out to potentially affected users.”
The Italian privacy watchdog has informed users of the lack of legal justification for OpenAI’s “collection and processing of large amounts of personal data” used to train the platform’s algorithms and the data the company collects. lamented not to.
The agency also said that ChatGPT may generate and store false information about individuals.
Finally, he pointed out that there was no system to verify the user’s age, exposing children to answers “totally inappropriate for their age and perception.”
The watchdog move comes amid growing concerns over the boom in artificial intelligence. A group of scientists and technology industry leaders issued a letter Wednesday asking companies such as OpenAI to pause development of more powerful AI models until the fall to give society time to weigh the risks. bottom.
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The president of Italy’s privacy watchdog told Italian state television on Friday night that he was one of those who signed the appeal. said it was because “it’s not clear what you’re aiming for.”
If AI “affects” humans’ “self-determination,” Stanzione said, “this is very dangerous.” He also described the lack of filters for users under the age of 13 as “pretty critical.”
Others also raised concerns.
“While it is not clear to what extent these decisions will be enforceable, the fact that there appears to be a discrepancy between the technical reality on the ground and the European legal framework suggests something to the call for a letter of suspension. “So that our cultural tools can catch up,” said Nello Cristianini, professor of AI at the University of Bath.
San Francisco-based OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced this week that he will be traveling to six continents in May to discuss the technology with users and developers. This includes a visit to Brussels, where European Union lawmakers are negotiating sweeping new rules to limit risky AI tools, as well as planned visits to Madrid, Munich, London and Paris. increase.
European consumer group BEUC on Thursday called on EU authorities and the bloc’s 27 member states to investigate AI chatbots similar to ChatGPT. BEUC says it could be years before the EU’s AI law takes effect, so authorities need to act faster to protect consumers from potential risks. .
“In just a few months, ChatGPT has seen massive adoption, but this is just the beginning,” said Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director.
Waiting for the EU’s AI law will not be enough “because of growing serious concerns about how ChatGPT and similar chatbots deceive and manipulate people.”
O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed from London.
