MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s data protection agency on Wednesday set an end-April deadline for OpenAI to meet its demands on data protection and privacy in order for its artificial intelligence ChatGPT chatbot service to be resumed in the country.
On March 31, Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy after the agency, known as Garante, temporarily restricted it and began a probe into a suspected breach of privacy rules.
The Italian agency accused OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT users and criticised the “absence of any legal basis” that justified the massive collection and storage of personal data.
In a statement on Wednesday the Garante laid out a set of “concrete” demands to be met by the end of this month.
“Only in this case .. will the authority suspend the provisional restrictions on the use of the data of Italian users … and ChatGPT will once again become accessible in Italy,” it said.
Italy was the first western European country to move against OpenAI, but the rapid development of the technology has attracted attention from lawmakers and regulators in several countries.
Many experts say new regulations are needed to govern AI because of its potential impact on national security, jobs and education.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Gavin Jones)
