On March 31, 2023, the Italian Data Protection Authority
(Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) announced that it is
temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT
as a result of rising concerns over a data breach reported on March
20, 2023, in violation of the European Union data protection
rules.
Since its public release four months ago, ChatGPT has exploded
globally for its ability to produce written content, including,
academic essays, exams, business plans, short stories songs, and
news articles. There have been public schools and universities
around the world that have blocked ChatGPT from their networks over
student plagiarism concerns.
Italy's Data Protection Authority said users lacked
information about the collection and processing of their data. The
Italian regulator also expressed concerns over the lack of age
verification mechanisms for ChatGPT users "exposes children to
receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate