Upon accessing ChatGPT in Italy, a display notice on the front webpage of the site will be met that says that the website’s owner may have set restrictions that prevent users from accessing the site.

Garante, the Italian government’s Data Protection Authority, blames the AI chatbot for the collection and storage of personal data of the users. Failing to come up with a remedial plan before it in 19 days, OpenAI could risk losing 20 million euros as a fine.

“We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals,” OpenAI said on facing the flak. ChatGPT’s failure of ensuring its given age restriction for its use has also not went unnoticed by the Italian agency.

Italy has become the first nation in the western world to have taken such an action against the highly popular chatbot. China, Hong Kong, Iran and Russia and parts of Africa already remained inaccessible for OpenAI.

This comes at the back of experts calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4, foreseeing potential societal risks emanating from the technology.