In Italy, access to the ChatGPT chatbot has been restored.
The Italian data protection authority prohibited it at the beginning of April due to privacy concerns.
OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, claimed to have “addressed or clarified” the concerns expressed.
It announced a new age verification tool and a pre-registration privacy policy.
The Italian data protection authority, also known as Garante, had temporarily restricted the chatbot and initiated an investigation into the suspected violation of the artificial intelligence application.
As Garante accused OpenAI of failing to validate the age of ChatGPT’s users, who are required to be at least 13 years old. OpenAI stated it would provide a tool to verify users’ ages upon registration in Italy.
EU users can now protest to OpenAI about using personal data to train its algorithms.
Particularly, the spokesperson stated, “implementation of an age verification system and planning and execution of an information campaign to inform Italians of what occurred and their right to opt-out of the processing of their data for training algorithms.”
Garante stated that it would continue its “fact-finding activities regarding OpenAI under the auspices of the European Data Protection Board’s ad hoc task force.”
OpenAI appreciates the Garante’s collaborative spirit, according to a spokesperson, and will continue constructive discussions.
ChatGPT has been utilized by millions of individuals since its launch in November 2022.
It can respond to queries using language that is natural and human-like, and it can imitate other writing styles.
Microsoft has invested billions of dollars into it, and Bing added it last month.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook will also use the technology, according to Microsoft.
Bard, Google’s rival artificial intelligence chatbot, is now accessible, but only to users older than 18.
