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EU Regulators Look At Italy’s ChatGPT Block

By  |  April 3, 2023

Italy’s decision to impose a temporary ban on ChatGPT has prompted other European countries to consider more stringent measures to regulate the widely popular chatbots and to determine whether to collaborate on such efforts.

As debates continue among European parliamentarians regarding the EU AI Act, some regulators are discovering that existing tools, like the General Data Protection Regulation, can be applied to generative AI companies, which are rapidly emerging.

Generative AI, like ChatGPT from OpenAI, uses algorithms to produce human-like text responses by analyzing large amounts of data, which may include data from internet users.

Read more: Data Regulator Says Germany May Block ChatGPT

The Garante, an Italian agency, has accused OpenAI, backed by Microsoft Corp, of neglecting to verify the age of ChatGPT users and collecting and storing personal data without a legal basis to train the chatbot.

“The points they raise are fundamental and show that GDPR does offer tools for the regulators to be involved and engaged into shaping the future of AI,” said Dessislava Savova, partner at law firm Clifford Chance.