Spain opens investigation against ChatGPT for possible violation of data protection

The possible violation of data protection has led to an investigation being opened into ChatGPT in Spain.

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) announced in a statement today, Thursday, April 13, that it will begin an investigation into the OpenAI company, the owner of the ChatGPT service.

La AEPD inicia de oficio actuaciones previas de investigación a la empresa estadounidense OpenAI, propietaria del servicio #ChatGPT. Asimismo, actuará en coordinación con sus homólogas europeas a través del grupo de trabajo creado en el @EU_EDPB.

📝https://t.co/XPCqdv8Hdc pic.twitter.com/L7Rmif77lu

— Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (@AEPD_es) April 13, 2023

As explained by the entity, last week it asked the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) – of which the AEPD is a member along with other data protection authorities – to include the ChatGPT service as an issue to be addressed at its plenary meeting.

According to the AEPD, it considered that the company’s global processing operations may have a significant impact on the rights of individuals to require harmonised and coordinated actions at the European level in the application of the General Data Protection Regulation.

In today’s plenary session, it was decided to launch a task force to promote cooperation and exchange information on the actions carried out by the data protection authorities.

With the start of the investigation in Spain and participation in the European working group, the AEPD stated that it will be acting in parallel “within the framework of its powers and competencies as a national supervisory and control authority, as well as in coordination with its European counterparts through of the committee”.

The AEPD defended: “the development and implementation of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence with full respect for current legislation”. It considered that: “only from this starting point can technological development be carried out that is compatible with the rights and freedoms of the people”.

A similar move was carried out by the Italian authorities on March 31, which considered ChatGPT could be breaching privacy regulations in the country.