Japan privacy watchdog warns ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on user data

Japan’s privacy watchdog said on Friday it has warned OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, not to collect sensitive data without people’s permission.

OpenAI should minimise the sensitive data it collects for machine learning, the Personal Information Protection Commission said in a statement, adding it may take further action if it has more concerns.

Regulators around the world are scrambling to draw up rules governing the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can create text and images, the impact of which proponents compare to the arrival of the internet.