The move is the latest in a series of actions by European watchdog agencies challenging the chatbot’s legality under EU law.
Spain’s data protection agency, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) this week asked the European Union’s privacy watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to Reuters.
News of the request by the came as France’s privacy watchdog, the Commission Nationale Informatique & Libertés (CNIL), announced that it was investigating several complaints about ChatGPT.
Italy’s ban started the trend
Spain’s move follows the Italian privacy regulator issuing a temporary ban on ChatGPT on March 31 due to an alleged violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Italian watchdog, known as the Garante della Protezione dei Dati Personali, is now reviewing measures proposed by OpenAI in response to the Italian allegations.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has said it was seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems. This is in response to the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) having filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charging that OpenAI’s recently launched GPT-4 product violates federal consumer protection law and poses grave risks to the public.
EU’s top privacy authority asked to weigh in
“The AEPD understands that global processing operations that may have a significant impact on the rights of individuals require coordinated decisions at European level,” a spokesperson for the agency told Reuters in an emailed statement.
“Therefore, in the short term, it has requested that the issue of ChatGPT be included in the next Plenary of the European Data Protection Committee, so that harmonised actions can be implemented within the framework of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation.”
A plenary meeting of the European Data Protection Board (EDBP), which includes representatives of national data privacy regulating authorities, is scheduled for April 13. However, it was not clear whether ChatGPT would be discussed at that time.
EDPB told Reuters that it was not able to share information about meetings. In an emailed statement, the board explained that it is generally not involved in investigations at a national level. This would be the responsibility of national data protection authorities.
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