OpenAI faces probe in Poland over alleged breach of data protection rules

OpenAI has come under fire from another regulatory after Poland’s Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) confirmed the launch of an investigation against the artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

In a statement, the UODO’s probe follows a complaint filed by an unnamed applicant over the data handling of OpenAI’s generative AI product, ChatGPT. Jan Nowak, UODO’s president, confirmed that the body will treat the allegations with importance regarding breaches of the EU’s privacy law.

The complainant alleges that ChatGPT processes data in “an unlawful and unreliable manner,” noting that the chatbot generated false information about him. He added that attempts to correct the generated information proved futile despite the legal requirement on the company to correct the misinformation.

The unnamed complainant argued that OpenAI is in breach of Article 12 and Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), sections dealing with the transparency and legality of handling data. According to the complaint, OpenAI failed to disclose information about its data processing systems by providing “evasive, misleading, and internally contradictory answers.”

The complainant added that OpenAI failed to disclose the source of the data and any information on the recipients, noting that they ought to disclose them before feeding it into their large language models (LLMs).

This is not the first time European GDPR compliance has received similar complaints against OpenAI, but it noted that an investigation would be hindered because the company is located outside the EU. However, Nowak disclosed that the regulatory body will pose a series of questions to OpenAI to “thoroughly conduct the administrative proceedings.”

“The development of new technologies must respect the rights of natural persons resulting from, among others, with GDPR,” said Jakub Groszkowski, UODO’s deputy president. “The task of the European personal data protection authorities is to protect European Union citizens against the negative effects of information processing technologies.”

In June, attempts by Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) to launch its generative AI chatbot in the EU were blocked by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on the grounds that the Big Tech firm failed to provide a “data protection impact assessment.”

As with its attempts at regulating digital currencies, the EU is nearing the full-scale launch of a comprehensive AI rule book that experts say will set the pace for uniform global rules.

OpenAI at the center of the storm

OpenAI has been at the receiving end of the regulatory stick after Italian authorities temporarily suspended ChatGPT for violating GDPR provisions. In April, given widespread reports of violations, German authorities questioned OpenAI over its internal systems and ability to comply with GDPR rules.

OpenAI’s data handling has faced many lawsuits in the U.S. over copyright violations, with the U.S. Authors Guild leading the charge. Plaintiffs claim that OpenAI’s flagrant abuse of copyright rules threatens the future of the literary profession while unjustly enriching itself.

In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.

Watch: AI, ChatGPT, and Blockchain | CoinGeek Roundtable with Joshua Henslee