Italy’s ChatGPT ban spreads to France, Germany and Ireland

Italy’s ChatGPT ban has caused numerous European countries to focus on banning the AI platform.

Germany, France and more are looking to impose a ChatGPT ban over numerous privacy concerns. Following in the footsteps of Italy’s Data Protection Authority, a number of European companies have it out for generative AI.

Via tech news outlet Reuters, it was reported that multiple countries are looking to enforce bans on the OpenAI platform. In an effort to protect individual privacy, ChatGPT may be banned across most of Europe.

The report explains that German data protection authorities are already looking to join Italy in enforcing a ban. Speaking to German newspaper Handelsblatt, the commissioner for Germany’s privacy watchdog revealed that there are discussions to ban the service in the country.

Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner also confirmed that they are in discussions with Italy regarding the ChatGPT ban.

“We are following up with the Italian regulator," a spokesperson for the initiative said. "We will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter."

Italy’s ban of OpenAI’s generative chatbot targets the company’s recent data breach as well as the vast amounts of data it collects to train its AI program. The data protection watchdog has claimed that it will lift the ban if OpenAI can protect Italians’ data.

However, the move has been met with a large degree of criticism. Even government members in Italy believe that the ban is too much and is built on little evidence.

Furthermore, only OpenAI’s standalone version of the software has been banned in the country. Microsoft’s Bing AI, which is powered by ChatGPT, has not been banned despite being the same service in all intents and purposes.

There are huge discussions that need to be had surrounding the future of AI services. With AI still vastly unregulated, the technology does pose dangers towards industry, the economy and even mental health.

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