Germany Will Block ChatGPT if Needed: Says Data Protection Chief

This announcement from Germany comes just days after neighbor Italy decided to temporary block ChatGPT over security concerns

Following Italy, Germany can become the second western country to block ChatGPT, since the German commissioner for data protection said that the country will go on to block the AI chatbot, if it’s needed.

Germany’s neighbor and a member of the EU, Italy has already put a temporary block over ChatGPT, after its National Data Agency (NDA) said that it suspects the AI chatbot of breaching the country’s privacy rules. Following the ban in Italy, OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, also went ahead and took ChatGPT offline in Italy.

“In principle, such action is also possible in Germany,” said the German data protection chief, while talking about Italy’s ban of ChatGPT.

The data protection commissioner also said that Germany has requested Italy to provide further information about the ban and its reasons. Apart from Germany, other EU countries including France and Ireland have also contacted Italian regulators to understand and evaluate the situation.

“We are following up with the Italian regulator to understand the basis for their action and we will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter,” said a Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) spokesperson.

Responding to the increasing criticism about training AI systems with user data, Open AI sent out a statement on Friday saying that they are actively working to reduce personal data during the training of AI systems.

Apart from the usage of user information to train AI systems, Italy also criticized OpenAI by saying that the company has no way of making sure that the person using ChatGPT is older than 13 years.

Read more:

New York Times Loses Twitter Blue Tick After Refusing to Pay