After Italy imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has decided to launch a task force to cooperate and “exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities” against AI companies like OpenAI, states a press release by the EDPB. What is EDPB? The EDPB is an independent body which assists the European Union and its data protection authorities in ensuring compliance with the data protection rules across EU countries. It is established by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), European Union’s privacy-protection law, and is composed of EU national data protection authorities and the European Data Protection Supervisor. Italy’s restriction on ChatGPT: Italy imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT on March 31 amid concerns about privacy breaches and violations of legal norms for using people’s personal data to train the chatbot. The Italian privacy regulator stated in a press release that OpenAI did not provide any information to users about how their data is being used. “There appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to ‘train’ the algorithms on which the platform [ChatGPT] relies,” the press release added. The country’s data protection authority, which ensures compliance with the privacy rules laid down by the GDPR, also pointed out concerns about incorrect or non-factual information generated by ChatGPT and the risks of children being exposed to inappropriate responses due to lack of awareness and age verification mechanisms. Why it matters: Authorities looking at…
