EU pursues ChatGPT

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has launched a task force to coordinate activities regarding ChatGPT, an American-developed AI chatbot that Italy has banned over privacy violations. Spain's data protection agency AEPD has opened a probe into ChatGPT's maker OpenAI, saying that development of artificial intelligence must be compatible with personal rights and freedoms. The French regulator CNIL has also opened a case, after receiving five complaints about the chatbot. The EU's GDPR data protection law requires online services to provide accurate personal information. Last week, US law scholar Jonathan Turley revealed that the chatbot had invented a news article accusing him of sexual harassment of students during a trip to Alaska.

OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company behind ChatGPT, has told AFP that it was committed to protecting people's privacy and believed that the chatbot was fully compliant with EU laws. The latest iteration of ChatGPT, GPT-4, “exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks,” including top scores on the US bar exam and SAT university entrance tests.