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Italy Restores ChatGPT After OpenAI Offers To Verify Italian Users

By  |  April 30, 2023

On Friday, the agency and the company confirmed that OpenAI addressed issues raised by Italy’s data protection authority, allowing for the reactivation of the ChatGPT chatbot in Italy.

OpenAI, which is supported by Microsoft, temporarily removed the ChatGPT chatbot in Italy last month due the country’s data protection authority, known as Garante, initiating an investigation into the AI application’s potential violation of privacy regulations.

Garante set a deadline of Sunday for OpenAI to address concerns before allowing the chatbot to resume operations in the country.

Related: Spain Requested EU Data Protection Board To Discuss OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Garante declared that the collection and storage of personal data by ChatGPT lacks legal justification for the purpose of training the chatbot.

OpenAI has been accused by Garante of failing to verify the age of ChatGPT’s users, who are required to be 13 years or older. In response, OpenAI has stated that they will provide a tool to verify users’ ages during sign-up in Italy.