Italian authorities, who had blocked access to the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot 'ChatGPT,' have announced plans to lift the ban by the end of this month if a series of data protection requirements are met.
Pasquale Stanzione, head of the Italian Data Protection Authority, said in an interview with the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on the 18th (local time), "If the developer OpenAI shows willingness to take useful measures, we are ready to allow access to ChatGPT again by the 30th," adding, "It seems the company also has this willingness."
ChatGPT is a conversational AI chatbot developed by the U.S. nonprofit research institute OpenAI, which gained worldwide sensational popularity immediately after its launch in November last year. However, considering its rapid development speed and rapidly expanding user base, concerns have been raised that there are no safety measures to address potential side effects.
In this context, Italian authorities became the first Western country to block access to ChatGPT, citing risks of personal data infringement. Except for countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Syria, Italy is the only country to have blocked ChatGPT. The Italian authorities explained that ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that learns from a vast amount of diverse text data to generate new content, and personal information could be mixed in during the learning process.
The Italian Data Protection Authority also presented specific preconditions for resuming the service to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, on the 12th. The authority demanded that OpenAI publish on its website the logical arrangements and data processing methods used by ChatGPT so that users can verify them, add tools to correct or delete personal information inaccurately generated by ChatGPT, and implement an age verification system.
The authority plans to review the measures presented by OpenAI by the 30th and then decide whether to lift the access ban.
Starting with the Italian authorities' actions, the European Union (EU) is also beginning to discuss legislation related to advanced AI such as ChatGPT, signaling the start of formal regulation. Stanzione said, "Urgent measures were necessary, so Italy banned ChatGPT unilaterally," adding, "If we had relied on Europe's decision, it would have been delayed by at least three to four months."
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