Japan Privacy Watchdog Warns ChatGPT-Maker OpenAI on User Data

The personal and sensitive user data that OpenAI collects for machine learning should be limited, or further actions could be taken, warns Japan privacy watchdog Personal Information Protection Commission.

While OpenAI’s superior chatbot ChatGPT is constantly ruling the Artificial Intelligence Technology world, the concerns regarding privacy and data breach remain constant. In a statement recently, Japan privacy watchdog, called Personal Information Protection Commission said they have already warned OpenAI to stop collecting users’ sensitive data without their permission.

OpenAI collects user data for machine learning purposes which apparently poses a privacy breach concern to the users. The company’s privacy policy also states that “the company collects personal information such as name, email address, and payment information when necessary for business purposes”.

The Japan privacy watchdog has already warned the ChatGPT creator  OpenAI regarding the same stating that the handling of sensitive data of the users needs to be safeguarded. The press release from the Japan privacy watchdog enclosed the statement that said: “not to collect personal information that requires special care from ChatGPT users and other parties”.

The commission also declared that if they find any more concerns regarding the safety and privacy of the data of the users, they might take the required actions to deal with that.

ChatGPT has gained massive popularity within the months of getting launched due to its capabilities of generating human-like answers using Generative AI technology and advanced language models like GPT-4. 

There have been concerns from all around the world regarding safety measures and a need to create a standard set of rules and regulations for constantly advancing AI technology and chatbots.

Earlier in April, the Italy watchdog also restricted the use of ChatGPT due to privacy concerns. After meeting up with the privacy problems questioned by the Italian regulators, OpenAI was allowed to resume its operations in the country.

OpenAI has been making the headlines for some reason or the other for the past months. A few days back, the EU officials and the OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman had an indirect rift when the statement by Altman made EU officials upset. 

EU is working on a set of rules and regulations to govern the AI technology in Europe which might be used globally to which Sam Altman had said in a statement that OpenAI may choose to leave Europe in case it fails to adhere to the upcoming EU regulations for AI technology. However, Sam Altman recently denied his earlier statements of leaving the country if it fails to comply with the rules.