OpenAI, creator of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, is under investigation by Canada's privacy commissioner for collecting and using personal information without consent.
On April 4, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) said its investigation was launched after it received a complaint from an unidentified person. Chief Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said his office is taking a close look at AI technologies to ensure Canadians' privacy rights are adequately protected: “Artificial intelligence technology and its impact on privacy is a top priority for my office. Our need to keep up with and stay ahead of rapidly evolving technological advancements is one of my key areas of focus.”
The OPC provided no further comment, nor did the office mention restrictions on Canadians' access to ChatGPT.
The Canadian investigation comes as Germany, France, Ireland and Spain consider possible action against AI after Italy temporarily blocked ChatGPT. On March 31, Italy’s data protection watchdog temporarily blocked the chatbot while it investigated an alleged data breach on the platform that occurred on March 20.
However, the decision caught the attention of Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who called the ban "excessive" in a tweet on April 4. Germany is also considering following Italy's example.
On April 3, Federal Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner Ulrich Kelber told local media Handelsblatt that Germany could temporarily ban ChatGPT if his commission investigates whether chatbots violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Privacy regulators in France and Ireland are also closely following the Italian investigation and have contacted the Italian regulator to ask the basis for its ban, Reuters reported on April 4.
Spain told Reuters it had not ruled out future investigations into ChatGPT, but said it had not yet received complaints about the chatbot. While the OPC's survey was most concerned with privacy, other entities also voiced concerns of their own.
The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy (CAIDP) filed a complaint with the FTC on March 30 seeking to block the release of powerful AI systems to consumers.
CAIDP claimed that ChatGPT-4 violated Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce." Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak are among the 12,800 signatories of a March 22 petition calling on artificial intelligence companies to "pause" AI GPT-4 progress towards more powerful AI systems as they may be "important to society and humanity."
