ChatGPT can be used again after a short time in the penalty box. OpenAI made the necessary concessions to reassure the local data protection authority.

On March 30, the Italian data protection authority Garante requested a (temporary) ban on ChatGPT because its parent company OpenAI had breached GDPR legislation. Among other things, the data protection authority noticed that OpenAI does not sufficiently disclose how it obtained its training data and that ChatGPT disseminates information about people that is not always correct. OpenAI was then given an ultimatum with conditions that the tool had to meet in order to be able to offer it in Italy.

The company listened and announced CEO Sam Altman Friday night via tweet indicates that ChatGPT is available again for Italian users. So OpenAI had to make some adjustments for this. For example, there will be an age control to prevent users under the age of thirteen from gaining access to the tool.

As a user, you can now specify whether your personal data may be used to train the models. This setting is also available outside of Italy. Now when you click on your account and then on settings, a new menu data settings will appear. You can use the slider to choose whether or not to save the chat history.

The stocking is not ready yet

Those concessions were enough to placate Garante, although the watchdog says further action is needed. OpenAI says they are still in talks with the authorities in this regard. Among other things, he had also demanded that people be able to adjust or remove the information that ChatGPT spreads about them.

Other European countries, including France and Germany, are also investigating whether action is needed against ChatGPT. The fact that the company was able to lift the ban in Italy will calm the storm for a while. Meanwhile, Europe is working on a first AI law that should better ensure the protection of personal data and copyrighted works when training AI models.