OpenAI's ChatGPT temporarily banned in Italy over privacy concerns

The popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has surprised the entire world. However, Italy has put a full stop to it by announcing a temporary ban on the Microsoft backed platform.

Citing privacy concerns, Italy's data protection agency on Friday claimed that it had opened a probe into OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot.

The absence of a legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data for training the model has influenced the country’s decision to block the advanced chatbot, Italy’s agency said.

The agency accused ChatGPT of failing to check the age of its users, which should be reserved to people aged 13 and above. The privacy watchdog also expressed concern over the absence of any filter for verifying the age of users, which in turn exposes minors to absolutely unsuitable answers.

It said it had provisionally restricted chatbot's use of Italian users' personal data.

The decision to block the platform came after Italy's regulators pointed specifically to a data breach last week, in which users reported being able to see other people’s chat histories.

Recently, Open AI CEO Sam Altman criticised ChatGPT by calling it a "horrible product" in a podcast interview. Altman cited ChatGPT's frequent error messages, simplistic design, and capacity issues as significant problems.

Meanwhile, a young Belgian man recently committed suicide after talking to an AI chatbot named ELIZA for several weeks, raising eyebrows over better protection of citizens and the need to raise awareness.

Back in India, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) prohibited the use of Artificial Intelligence-based ChatGPT in the upcoming class 10, 12 board exams.

The ChatGPT bot, which launched in November, has quickly become a rage, disrupting the education field and helping students with their essays and exams. The bot is also skilled at writing job application cover letters, lines of code, and articles. In fact, Bill Gates has even praised ChatGPT, saying it will "change our world".

Also Read: Is the govt working to build an Indian version of ChatGPT? Here's what we know