(Ottawa) The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has opened an investigation into the company behind ChatGPT, a popular chatbot with artificial intelligence.
The Office of the Commissioner said on Tuesday that its investigation into the American company OpenAI had been initiated “following a complaint that personal information was collected, used and disclosed without consent”.
Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said in a statement that “the privacy implications of artificial intelligence technology are a priority” for his office.
He says the Office needs to keep up with rapidly changing technological advances “and even stay ahead of the game.”
Mr. Dufresne’s office adds that it will not divulge more details at this time, but it recalls that its mandate is to report publicly on the results of its investigations.
ChatGPT, launched last November, uses written information already available on the internet to provide detailed, conversational answers to user queries. It has been used so far to produce a variety of documents and responses, ranging from computer codes to film scripts. Critics, on the other hand, have raised concerns about plagiarism.
Last week, Italy’s equivalent of the privacy commissioner blocked ChatGPT while it investigated an alleged breach of EU personal data rules.