Italy blocks ChatGPT artificial intelligence app for security reasons

First modification: 04/01/2023 – 01:54

On March 31, the Italian data protection agency announced AI app blocking, GPT Chat, arguing that it does not respect its legislation on the storage of personal data, in addition to not having an adequate system for verify the age of minor users.

The measure takes effect immediately. The authorities of the European country assured that the application “suffered on March 20 a loss of data on user conversations and information related to the payment of subscribers to the payment service.”

However, the authorities have asked the company that developed the application to make an adjustment on the pertinent issues or if not could face a penalty of up to 20 million euros.

The decision was influenced by the fact that the application lacks an informative note for users in which it is explained that their data is collected by the company ‘OpenAl’, in addition to the absence of a legal basis that “justifies the collection and conservation in mass of personal data”.

Some users of the application had reported receiving images and messages with a sexual overtone.

‘OpenAI’, funded by tech giant Microsoftis the company that develops the application, which is trained with large amounts of text to maintain coherent conversations with anyone, that can go from a translation to a chat.

ChatGPT was officially launched in November last year and was quickly adopted by thousands of users around the world, amazed by its ability to answer difficult questions and even pass exams.

The algorithms developed by its creators are expected to be able to answer questions in a correct, natural and even personal or sentimental way.

AI scares governments

The European Union is preparing a bill with which it seeks regulate artificial intelligence, which could be ready at the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024 and be applied quickly.

While the European Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) works to impose million-dollar fines technology companies for the “mishandling of data” of some applications.

Undoubtedly, the rapid advancement of technology has facilitated most of the tasks of human beings, however, the fear that at some point it will get out of control is an issue that does not stop worrying.

Earlier this week, a group of tech experts, including tycoon Elon Musk, signed an open letter in which they asked scientists and developers to “pause” AI advances for six months.

Musk had already referred to the issue in February of this year, assuring that “one of the greatest risks to the future of civilization is AI,” as he explained during the World Government Summit in Dubai.

ChatGPT… could it help criminals?

This was alerted by Europol. The European police agency said that the application can facilitate fraud tasks due to its ability to write authentic texts and very quickly, making it increasingly difficult for victims to detect fraud.

“Until now, this type of deceptive communication has been something that criminals had to produce on their own. In the case of mass-produced campaigns, victims of this type of crime were often able to identify the inauthentic nature of a message due to obvious spelling or grammatical errors or its vague or inaccurate content,” notes Europol.

They also ensured that commit terrorist actions, spread propaganda and contribute to disinformation These are other challenges that authorities will have to face more frequently in the coming years with GPT or similar applications.

Now the challenge is that the tool manages to detect when an order has malicious intentions and that they can affect other people, warns Europol.

With AFP and local media