Data regulator warns against rushing into chatbot bans

ChatGPT needs to be regulated and it’s about figuring out how to regulate it properly, the Data Protection Commission has said. Picture: AP Photo/Peter Morgan

Generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, needs to be regulated, but governing bodies must figure out how to do so properly before rushing into prohibitions that “really aren’t going to stand up”, Ireland’s data protection chief said.

“It needs to be regulated and it’s about figuring out how to regulate it properly,” Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon told a conference hosted by Bloomberg in Wicklow on Thursday, saying the debate extended to thousands of ChatGPT equivalents.