ChatGPT can now be used again in Italy: About four weeks after the closure, the Italian data protection authority has approved the use of the voice bot again. The American operator of the artificial intelligence voice bot, Open AI, "now guarantees users and non-users more transparency and more rights," the authority said in Rome. It had temporarily closed the service in Italy due to data protection concerns and the lack of protection of minors. However, the data protection authority wants to continue its investigation into ChatGPT's practices.

Christian Schubert

Economic correspondent for Italy and Greece.

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Users throughout Europe are now benefiting from the pressure that the Italian authority has built up on the American company: Anyone who wants to use ChatGPT in Italy now will be asked beforehand whether he or she has reached the age of majority or is at least 13 years old and has the consent of parents or guardians. Only then can you continue clicking. It is also asked whether one agrees that personal data can be used for the training and further development of the algorithm. This form of data use by Open AI can be rejected "by means of a special form that can be filled out online and is easily accessible," the authority emphasizes. The conversations between users and the chatbot could, for example, be excluded from being used for algorithm training. This right applies "to all persons living in Europe, including non-users," the Italian data protection authorities report.

Have incorrect information deleted

In addition, it will be possible in the future to have incorrect information deleted – but not in every situation. In case of problems, you should write to a specific e-mail address, Open AI says on its website. The company describes not only how it processes user data, but also how ChatGPT's language model works. According to this, his generated answers are based on a "prediction of the most likely next words". This means that "in some cases, the most likely next words are not the most factually correct words. For this reason, you should not rely on the factual accuracy of our information," warns Open AI. The company adds that "due to the technical complexity of our models," we may "not be able to correct inaccuracies." In this case, the user should request that personal data be removed from ChatGPT's data altogether via a form to be filled out.

Italy was the only country to block ChatGPT for privacy reasons. Other European authorities support the arguments of the Italian authority, but not the closure. Various investigations have also been launched in other countries such as Spain or Canada. The Italian privacy advocates had reported that many users treated ChatGPT like a personal advisor to whom they shared confidential information. Due to the rapid increase in use, the authority was forced to intervene.