The move comes after a number of data privacy regulators from across Europe raised concerns about whether the chatbot is compliant with the EU's GDPR privacy law. Credit: Thinkstock The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) plans to launch a dedicated task force to investigate ChatGPT after a number of European privacy watchdogs raised concerns about whether the technology is compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Europe’s national privacy regulators said on Thursday that the decision came following discussions about recent enforcement action undertaken by the Italian data protection authority against OpenAI regarding its ChatGPT service. In a statement posted on its website, the EDPB said the task force was intended to “foster cooperation and to exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities.” Last month, Italy’s data privacy regulator issued a temporary ban against ChatGPT over alleged privacy violations relating to the chatbot’s collection and storage of personal data. Italy’s guarantor for the protection of personal data ordered the temporary halt on the processing of Italian users’ data by ChatGPT’s parent firm OpenAI, unless it complied with EU privacy laws. In order to have the service reinstated, the Italian guarantor outlined a list of data protection requirements that OpenAI must comply with, including increased transparency into how ChatGPT processes data, the right for nonusers to opt out of having their data processed, and an age-gating system for signing up to the service. In the wake of the ban, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted: “We of course defer to the Italian government and have ceased offering ChatGPT in Italy (though we think we are following all privacy laws).” The discussion of ChatGPT was added to the EDPB’s agenda following a request from the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD), which asked for the matter to be included in the EDPB’s plenary meeting. Since then, the AEPD has further announced it has initiated an investigation into OpenAI for a possible breach of regulations, and would be coordinating with its European counterparts on the committee. Elsewhere in Europe, CNIL, the French privacy watchdog, is also reportedly investigating five complaints against the chatbot, including one made by Eric Botheral, a member of the National Asembly — France’s lower house of Parliament — who represents the Côtes d’Armor. Despite the concerns, while France’s Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot thinks ChatGPT doesn’t respect privacy laws, in an interview with La Tribune, he ultimately argued against banning it. OpenAI has not responded to requests for comment. Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3720 for the Beta Channel and Build 26120.770 for the Dev Channel, both released on June 7, 2024. By Preston Gralla Jun 07, 2024 264 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news DuckDuckGo launches anonymous AI chatbot The privacy-conscience search engine said it will not use information users input for training LLMs or in any other way reveal who queried the chatbot. By Lucas Mearian Jun 07, 2024 3 mins Chatbots Data Privacy Web Search news US chip export control rules circumvented by AI cloud services, says report Chinese companies are exploiting a loophole in export control rules that draft legislation introduced last year sought to close. By John Leyden Jun 07, 2024 4 mins Government Generative AI GPUs news How many jobs are available in technology in the US? Tech unemployment was down in May and job postings were higher than they've been for more than a year. By Lucas Mearian Jun 07, 2024 164 mins Remote Work Salaries Financial Services Industry Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe