OpenAI, the American organization that owns ChatGPT, the chatbot that, thanks to artificial intelligence, responds to sentences written or spoken by users, has suspended the service in Italy, making the site hosting the chatbot inaccessible. The decision was taken after an investigation was launched by the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, also called the Privacy Guarantor, due to an alleged unlawful collection of personal data by the chatbot.

OpenAI said it will refund all Italian users who subscribed to ChatGPT in March and stop automatically renewing already active subscriptions until the service is suspended.

Anyone trying to access the site from Italy will see a flimsy message mentioning the privacy guarantor’s investigation.

OpenAI suspended the service #ChatGPT in Italy. A choice respectful of the Italian provision for the limitation of user data issued by @GPDP_IT . #guarantee #privacyamica pic.twitter.com/LMjEVTvROY

— AGOSTINO GHIGLIA (@GHIGLIAAGOSTINO) April 1, 2023

The Privacy Guarantor’s investigation into ChatGPT was launched on Friday: the Guarantor noted “the lack of information for users and all interested parties whose data is collected by OpenAI, but above all the lack of legal basis justifying the massive collection and storage of personal data, for the purpose of “training” the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform”. For this reason, the Guarantor had ordered a temporary limitation of the processing of Italian users’ data by OpenAI and requested that OpenAI communicate the measures taken to implement the requested protections within 20 days, “under pain of a fine of up to up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of global annual turnover”.

One of the hypotheses was that OpenAI was blocking the registration of new users in Italy for using ChatGPT: in the end, this went further, making the chatbot inaccessible from Italy. In the press release announcing the service’s suspension, Open AI said it will work with the privacy guarantor to ensure its use by Italian users is restored “as soon as possible.”