What happened?

  • The Italian Data Protection Authority (IDPA) imposed a fine of 15 million euros on OpenAI, believing that the company violated the 'principle of transparency' and its information obligations towards users when handling personal data.

  • The IDPA investigation also found that OpenAI lacked appropriate age verification mechanisms, which could lead to minors being exposed to content unsuitable for their age or cognitive development.

  • In addition to the fine, the IDPA requires OpenAI to conduct a six-month public awareness campaign to enhance public understanding of how ChatGPT operates.

The Italian Data Protection Authority fines OpenAI

The Italian Data Protection Authority (IDPA) announced on December 20 that it imposed a fine of 15 million euros (approximately 17 million dollars or 500 million New Taiwan dollars) on OpenAI.

The IDPA is investigating the data usage of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, believing that the company violated the 'principle of transparency' and its information obligations towards users when handling personal data.

The IDPA pointed out that OpenAI used users' personal data in training ChatGPT but did not confirm in advance that this action was based on sufficient legal grounds. In other words, OpenAI could not clearly demonstrate that it had the right to use this data to develop the model. Furthermore, OpenAI did not explain to users how their data would be collected, used, and for what purposes these data would be employed.

The IDPA's investigation also found that OpenAI lacked appropriate age verification mechanisms, which could lead to minors under the age of 13 being exposed to content unsuitable for their age or cognitive development.

The IDPA's penalties against OpenAI, in addition to the fine, also include a requirement for OpenAI to launch a six-month public awareness campaign to enhance public understanding of how ChatGPT operates, particularly regarding data collection and user rights. According to the IDPA's requirements, OpenAI must disseminate relevant information to the Italian public through various media channels, including radio, television, newspapers, and the internet.

OpenAI protests that the punishment is unreasonable

According to (Reuters), OpenAI believes the ruling is 'disproportionate,' and the company will appeal.

In fact, the investigation started in 2023, when the IDPA suspected that OpenAI violated EU privacy regulations, briefly banning the use of ChatGPT in Italy. The service was later resumed after OpenAI addressed issues related to user rights.

Regarding this fine, OpenAI stated that the IDPA had previously affirmed the company's practices in AI privacy protection. However, the current fine amount is nearly 20 times OpenAI's revenue in Italy during this period, and criticized this action as 'undermining Italy's ambitions for development in the AI industry.'

(Reuters) pointed out that despite this, the IDPA still believes that the 15 million euro fine has taken into account OpenAI's cooperative attitude during the investigation, implying that the fine amount could have been higher otherwise.

After all, according to the (General Data Protection Regulation) (GDPR) implemented by the European Union in 2018, any violating company could face fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of global revenue.

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  • This article is reprinted with permission from: (Web3+)

  • Original author: Li Pengrui

  • Original title: (Fined 500 million for violating data protection regulations, OpenAI protests 'unreasonable'! What happened?)

'OpenAI fined 500 million! Official protests 'unreasonable', what happened?' This article was first published in 'Crypto City'