Italy’s privacy watchdog fines OpenAI for ChatGPT violations over personal data

OpenAI has been fined 15 million euros by Italy’s protection watchdog of data violations by ChatGPT (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Italy’s data protection watchdog said it has fined OpenAI 15 million euros (£12.4 million) after completing an investigation into the collection of personal data by the US artificial intelligence (AI) company’s popular chatbot ChatGPT.

The country’s privacy watchdog, known as Garante, said its probe showed OpenAI processed users’ personal data to train ChatGPT “without having an adequate legal basis and violated the principle of transparency and the related information obligations towards users”.