Italian Authorities Fined OpenAI €15 Million for Not Disclosing Data Breach

OpenAI, the company developing and operating ChatGPT, has been fined €15 million for failing to inform the Italian Data Protection Authority of a data breach that occurred in March 2023. 

OpenAI's success is a double-edged sword, as the company has also become a major target for hackers looking to compromise it and steal vast amounts of data. In fact, OpenAI and ChatGPT have been involved in several incidents, some more problematic than others. 

In some cases, researchers found security issues with the platform before dangerous actors could, but that wasn't always the case. On the other hand, the data breach from March 2023 wasn't the only issue. 

As it turns out, the company also utilized user data without determining if it was legal for OpenAI to do so, and didn't implement age verification mechanisms. This might lead the generative artificial intelligence chatbot to provide inappropriate answers to minors. 

"According to the Italian Data Protection Authority, the US company, which created and manages the generative artificial intelligence chatbot, did not notify the Authority of the data breach it underwent in March 2023, it has processed users' personal data to train ChatGPT without first identifying an appropriate legal basis and has violated the principle of transparency and the related information obligations towards users," the Italian authorities explained.

 "Furthermore, OpenAI has not provided for mechanisms for age verification, which could lead to the risk of exposing children under 13 to inappropriate responses with respect to their degree of development and self-awareness."

OpenAI now has to promote a public understanding and awareness campaign for six months, explaining how it collects data and detailing the rights of each party involved. Also, one of the goals of this campaign is to educate users on how to oppose the training of generative artificial intelligence with their personal data.

The authorities also took into account that OpenAI has been collaborating with them and imposed a fine of 15 million euros.