The organization that brings together Europe’s national privacy regulators said Thursday it was establishing a task force specially focused on OpenAI's ChatGPT, as global scrutiny of artificial intelligence systems intensifies.
The announcement by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) marks a significant initial move toward developing a unified approach to privacy rules on artificial intelligence.
It follows a unilateral move by Italy last month to curb ChatGPT – a stance that Germany's commissioner for data protection said could be followed in Europe's biggest economy.
ChatGPT, an AI program that grabbed the public's attention for its ability to write answers quickly to a wide range of queries, has grown to be the fastest-growing consumer application in history with more than 100 million monthly active users while raising questions about threats it may pose to safety, privacy and jobs.
Experts, the U.S. government and several other European governments have also expressed concern about the rapid growth of the adoption of ChatGPT and similar AI products.
"The EDPB members discussed the recent enforcement action undertaken by the Italian data protection authority against OpenAI about the Chat GPT service," the statement said.
"The EDPB decided to launch a dedicated task force to foster cooperation and to exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities."
A source at one national watchdog who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media said member states hoped to align their policy positions, but this would take time.
The source said member states were not seeking to punish or make rules that will affect Microsoft Corp-backed ChatGPT owner OpenAI, but rather to create general policies that "are transparent."
They said attendees at Thursday's meeting included policy experts who presented opinions and exchanged ideas, rather than being decision-makers.
The EDPB is an independent body that oversees data protection rules in the European Union and is composed of national data protection watchdogs.
The discussion of ChatGPT was added to the body's agenda following a request from Spain to discuss the matter earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Spain's data protection agency AEPD said on Thursday it was launching a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT.
