Germany could join Italy in banning ChatGPT from being used in its country

Germany could join Italy in banning ChatGPT from being used in its country

Last week, Italy's data protection agency made a decision to ban the use of ChatGPT due to data privacy concerns. Now, it looks like another European country, Germany, could made that same decision.

In an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper (via Yahoo News), Germany's commissioner for data protection Ulrich Kelber, said that its country's regulators had been in talks with Italian government regulators on its ChatGPT ban. Kelber stated, "... in principle, such action is also possible in Germany".

Italy's ban was put in effect after the country's data protection agency said ChatGPT was possibly in violation of its data collection rules. It also claims that ChatGPT does not monitor if its service is being used by kids under 13 years of age. The chatbot AI's terms of service prohibits its use by kids in that age group.

Since the ban in Italy was put in place, the country's deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, stated he believes it was "hypocritical" for the data collection agency to make that move. He points out that other online services have their own data collection and privacy issues in Italy, but they were not blocked as ChatGPT did.

However, other countries besides Germany are talking to Italy's regulators about their actions. A spokesperson for Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner stated they are looking at what Italy did with ChatGPT and will "will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter." France's government has also been in contact with Italy about its decision as well.

Source: Handelsblatt via Yahoo