OpenAI faces Canadian privacy probe alleging personal info harvesting
OpenAI, the creators of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, is under investigation by Canada’s privacy commissioner for alleged collection and use of personal information without consent.
On April 4, The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) stated its investigation was brought about following a complaint from an unidentified person.
Head Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said his office is paying close attention to AI tech to ensure Canadian privacy rights are sufficiently protected:
No further comments were provided by the OPC and the Office made no mention of a limit on Canadians' access to ChatGPT.
Canada’s investigation comes as Germany, France, Ireland and Spain eye possible action on AI following a temporary block on ChatGPT in Italy.
On March 31, Italy’s data protection watchdog temporarily blocked the chatbot while it investigates an alleged data breach on the platform that took place on March 20.
The decision, however, raised the eyebrows of Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, who described the ban as “excessive” in an April 4 tweet.
Incontrando oggi i giornalisti stranieri in Italia ho ribadito la mia contrarietà all’intervento del Garante della Privacy che ha messo sostanzialmente al bando #ChatGPT, un “chatbot” basato su intelligenza artificiale. pic.twitter.com/r7waRKoLCU
Germany is considering following Italy’s lead too.
On April 3 Ulrich Kelber, federal commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information told local outlet Handelsblatt that Germany may temporarily ban ChatGPT in the event that his commission probes whether the chatbot violates the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Privacy regulators in France and Ireland are also keeping an
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