Last updated: April 25, 2023, 3:06 AM IST
FILE – The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with ChatGPT output, on March 21, 2023 in Boston. (AP photo/Michael Dwyer, file)
Italy temporarily banned the program last month over allegations that the data collection violated privacy laws
Germany joins other European countries in investigating the use of personal data by the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT and is demanding answers from US maker OpenAI, a regulator said Monday.
Regional data protection authorities in Europe’s top economy have prepared a questionnaire for OpenAI and are expecting a response on June 11, said Marit Hansen, Commissioner for the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
“We want to know whether a data protection impact assessment has been carried out and whether data protection risks are under control,” Hansen told AFP.
“We ask OpenAI for information on matters arising from the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).”
The German authorities want to verify whether, under EU law, OpenAI adequately informs people whose data is used by ChatGPT that they “have rights, for example to access, correct or even delete their data,” she said.
It is also necessary to “clarify how these rights can be exercised,” she said, adding that regulators were particularly concerned about the processing of data related to minors.
“As soon as personal data of European citizens are processed, European data protection law must be respected,” she said.
Italy temporarily banned the program last month over allegations that the data collection violated privacy laws. It has since asked OpenAI to modify its chatbot so that it could be back online in the country by the end of April.
The French regulator said earlier this month it had opened formal proceedings after receiving five complaints, while Spain’s AEPD data protection agency also said it had opened an investigation into the software and its US owner.
The European Union’s central data regulator has formed a task force to help countries harmonize their policies and address privacy concerns.
ChatGPT can generate essays, poems and conversations from the shortest of prompts and has proven itself capable of passing some tough exams.
But it has been dogged by concerns that its talents could lead to widespread cheating in schools, fuel disinformation on the web and replace human workers.
And the chatbot can only function if it’s trained on massive datasets, raising concerns about where OpenAI gets its data from and how that information is treated.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)
