ChatGPT will resume in Italy if it meets watchdog’s demands

Italy’s data protection agency said it would only allow ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence service, to resume in the country if it meets a set of demands by April 30. OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot, welcomed the decision.

The watchdog, known as Garante, temporarily banned the tool over its data collection and privacy policies almost two weeks ago.

It accused ChatGPT's developer of unlawful data-collection practices, highlighting the "absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, to ‘train’ the algorithms underlying the platform's operation."

Soon, San Francisco-based OpenAI started geoblocking access to ChatGPT in Italy and said it would issue refunds to all users who had subscribed to the paid ChatGPT Plus.

However, Garante now laid out a set of "concrete" demands to be met by the end of this month

"Only in this case the authority will suspend the provisional restrictions on the use of the data of Italian users, and ChatGPT will once again become accessible in Italy," it said.

The authority said OpenAI is required to inform users in Italy of "the methods and logic" behind the processing of data necessary for ChatGPT to operate.

The watchdog also asked OpenAI to provide tools to enable people whose data is involved, including non-users, to request the correction of personal data inaccurately generated by the service or its deletion, if a correction is not possible.

OpenAI should also allow non-users to oppose "in a simple and accessible manner" the processing of their personal data to run its algorithms, Garante said.

It finally asked the company to introduce by the end of September an age verification system capable of excluding access to users under 13.

OpenAI on Thursday welcomed the agency's move. Its spokesperson told Reuters: “"We are happy that the Italian Garante is reconsidering their decision and we look forward to working with them to make ChatGPT available to our customers in Italy again soon."

Italy was the first western European country to curb ChatGPT, but its rapid development has attracted attention from lawmakers and regulators in several countries.

Spain's data protection agency has asked the European Union's privacy watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT. The watchdog, the European Data Protection Board, has already created a task force to keep the chatbot – and any of its AI successors – in check.

Many experts say new regulations are needed to govern AI because of its potential impact on national security, jobs and education.