ROME (AP) 鈥� Italy鈥檚 data protection watchdog said Friday it has fined OpenAI 15 million euros ($15.6 million) after wrapping up a probe into the collection of personal data by the U.S. artificial intelligence company's popular chatbot ChatGPT.
The country鈥檚 privacy watchdog, known as Garante, said showed that OpenAI processed users鈥� personal data to train ChatGPT 鈥渨ithout having an adequate legal basis and violated the principle of transparency and the related information obligations towards users鈥�.
OpenAI dubbed the decision 鈥渄isproportionate鈥� and said it will appeal.
鈥淲hen the Garante ordered us to stop offering ChatGPT in Italy , we worked with them to reinstate it a month later,鈥� an OpenAI spokesperson said Friday in an emailed statement. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e since recognized our industry-leading approach to protecting privacy in AI, yet this fine is nearly 20 times the revenue we made in Italy during the relevant period.鈥�
OpenAI added, however, it remained 鈥渃ommitted to working with privacy authorities worldwide to offer beneficial AI that respects privacy rights.鈥�
The investigation, launched last year, also found that OpenAI didn鈥檛 provide an 鈥渁dequate age verification system鈥� to prevent users under 13 years of age from being exposed to inappropriate AI-generated content, the watchdog said.
The Italian authority also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on different Italian media to raise public awareness about ChatGPT, specifically in regard to data collection.
The booming popularity of generative artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT has drawn scrutiny from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
Regulators and have been examining OpenAI and other companies that have played a key part in the AI boom, while governments around the world have been drawing up rules to protect against risks posed by AI systems, led by the European Union's , a comprehensive rulebook for artificial intelligence.
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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report
Giada Zampano, The Associated Press
