Italy's Data Protection Watchdog May Allow ChatGPT's Return at End of April, Says Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Italy's data protection watchdog chief Pasquale Stanzione said in an interview published on Tuesday that the agency is ready to allow the return of the ChatGPT chatbot by the end of April if OpenAI takes "useful steps" to address their concerns.
OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft Corp, took ChatGPT offline in Italy in late March following the watchdog's temporary restriction of its personal data processing and a privacy rules breach investigation.
Stanzione told Corriere della Sera newspaper, "We are ready to reopen ChatGPT on April 30 if there is a willingness on the part of OpenAI to take useful steps. I think there is on the part of the company, let's see."
To address its concerns, the data protection body led by Stanzione last week set out a list of demands which OpenAI must meet by April 30.
While Italy was the first Western European country to curb ChatGPT, the rapid development of advanced AI systems like ChatGPT has attracted the attention of lawmakers and regulators in several countries. On Monday, EU lawmakers called for a summit to control the development of such AI systems.
Stanzione said that Italy acted alone to ban ChatGPT as urgent action was needed and going through a European decision would have taken three to four months.
