Spain fears “a possible breach of the regulations” governing the protection of user data concerning the chatbot ChatGPT. The AEPD, the Spanish data protection agency, has opened a preliminary investigation into OpenAI, the American company that develops ChatGPT, according to a press release published on April 13.
The AEPD says it is in favor of “innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence”, while recalling that their development must always “be compatible with the rights and freedoms of individuals”.
The CNIL, for its part, decided to open “a control procedure” to investigate five complaints against the company based in San Francisco, the French data protection authority announced the same day.
The European Union is coordinating against OpenAI
The procedures against ChatGPT have multiplied since Italy blocked it at the end of March. On April 12, Italy’s privacy regulator said OpenAI faced legal action if it failed to comply by April 30 with a series of demands, including putting in place a mechanism for Italians to request the rectification of information concerning them, provided by law in all countries of the European Union (EU).
From Brussels, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), responsible for coordinating the authorities equivalent to the CNIL in the various EU member countries, announced on April 13 the creation of a working group “in order to foster cooperation and exchange information on possible actions taken by data protection authorities,” a statement said. This decision could be a first step towards a common policy establishing rules for the protection of privacy in the field of artificial intelligence.
Outside of Europe, ChatGPT is also under investigation in Canada, again on the subject of personal data. The chatbot, launched at the end of November 2022, quickly aroused the interest of users, impressed by its ability to clearly answer difficult questions, to generate computer code or to create texts in a wide variety of formats. Funded by Microsoft, which has integrated it into several of its services, it is presented as a potential competitor to the Google search engine.