AI startup OpenAI on Monday, faced a privacy complaint from advocacy group NOYB, alleging that its generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, failed to rectify inaccurate information, potentially violating EU privacy regulations.
ChatGPT, which sparked the GenAI trend in late 2022, boasts capabilities to simulate human conversation, summarize text, compose poetry, and even brainstorm theme party ideas.
According to NOYB, the complainant, a public figure, queried ChatGPT about their birthday, receiving repeatedly incorrect responses instead of a disclaimer regarding unavailable data.
OpenAI reportedly declined the complainant’s request for data rectification or deletion, citing technical limitations, and omitted details about data processing, sources, and recipients.
NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority, urging an investigation into OpenAI’s data processing practices and measures to ensure accuracy, especially concerning personal data handled by its language models.
Maartje de Graaf, NOYB’s data protection lawyer, stressed the necessity for chatbots like ChatGPT to comply with EU law, emphasizing that technology should adhere to legal standards.
In a significant development, Japan’s recent greenhouse gas inventory, submitted to the UN climate change initiative, now includes carbon absorption by oceans, grasslands, and seabeds, a first for the nation.
De Graaf emphasized that systems incapable of delivering precise and transparent outcomes shouldn’t generate individual data. She emphasized the importance of technology aligning with legal mandates.
OpenAI previously acknowledged ChatGPT’s tendency to provide plausible but incorrect responses, citing this as a challenging issue to address.
