Italy has taken the lead among Western countries in blocking the advanced chatbot ChatGPT.

The Italian data-protection authority has expressed privacy concerns about a model created by US start-up OpenAI, which has backing from Microsoft. The regulator has stated that it will ban and investigate OpenAI with immediate effect. OpenAI claims that it complies with privacy laws, but ChatGPT and similar chatbots are currently under investigation by protection watchdogs following a complaint filed in the US. While the EU is working on legislation for AI, the consumer watchdog BEUC is concerned that it may be years before the AI Act takes effect, which could leave consumers vulnerable to the dangers of insufficiently regulated technology. Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of BEUC, warns that society needs greater public scrutiny and control over AI systems like ChatGPT, which can deceive and manipulate people. ChatGPT is already blocked in several countries, including China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. OpenAI has disabled ChatGPT for Italian users at the request of the Italian data protection regulator, the Garante, and is committed to protecting privacy and complying with GDPR and other privacy laws. OpenAI believes that AI regulation is necessary and looks forward to working with the Garante to educate them on how its systems are built and used. The organization intends to make ChatGPT available in Italy again soon.