More European countries said to be mulling prohibitions of AI chatbots

More European countries are considering whether stricter measures are needed to restrain popular chatbots powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, after Italy became the first Western country to block ChatGPT last week.

Italy's data protection watchdog, Garante, announced it has opened an investigation into OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, over suspected breaches of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, saying it was concerned OpenAI has unlawfully processed Italians' data.

ChatGPT is already used by hundreds of millions of people and is the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to analysis by investment bank UBS.

The AI technology can generate responses to text queries based on analyzing huge amounts of data, some of which may be owned by internet users.

Reuters news agency reported that privacy regulators in France and Ireland are seeking to learn more about the basis of the Italian ban, and that Germany could soon follow in Italy's footsteps.

Last week, leading technology bosses, including Twitter chief Elon Musk, demanded a pause in AI research amid concerns about even "more powerful" systems in development. A joint letter of support was co-signed by engineers from Amazon, DeepMind, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.

Euronews reported that the European Consumer Organisation, or BEUC, is calling on all authorities to investigate all major AI chatbots.

"Consumers are not ready for this technology. They don't realize how manipulative, how deceptive it can be," said Ursula Pachl, deputy director of the BEUC.

"They don't realize that the information they get is maybe wrong. I think this incident with ChatGPT is very important. It's kind of a wake-up call for the European Union because even though European institutions have been working on an AI Act, it will not be applicable for another four years. And we have seen how fast these sorts of systems are developing," she told Euronews.

Critics have concerns over where ChatGPT and rival chatbots get their data and how they process it.

"We actually don't know how the data is used because there's not enough information given to the public," Ruta Liepina, an AI fellow at the University of Bologna in Italy told Al Jazeera.

"At the same time, at the European Union, there are a lot of new regulations being proposed, but it will be a matter of how they are enforced and how much the companies collaborate in showing information that is needed to better understand how these technologies are working," Liepina said.

On Monday, the United Kingdom's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, or ICO, offered advice to businesses deploying and developing generative AI systems like ChatGPT.

Stephen Almond, the ICO's director of technology and innovation, wrote a blog post in response to comments made by OpenAI chief Sam Altman in which Almond said: "It is important to take a step back and reflect on how personal data is being used by a technology that has made its own CEO 'a bit scared'."