Posted April 4, 2023 12:16 PM ET
Canada’s Data Protection Commissioner Philippe Dufresne is seen at a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday January 26, 2023. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched an investigation into the company behind ChatGPT, the explosively popular artificial intelligence chatbot. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
OTTAWA – The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched an investigation into the company behind ChatGPT, an explosively popular artificial intelligence chatbot.
The bureau says it is launching an investigation into US company OpenAI after receiving a complaint alleging it “collects, uses and discloses personal information without consent.”
Data Protection Commissioner Philippe Dufresne says in a statement today that artificial intelligence and its privacy implications are top priorities and his office needs to stay ahead of “fast-moving technological advances”.
Dufresne’s office says it will not release any further details at this time, but its mandate is to report publicly on the findings of the investigation once it is complete.
ChatGPT, which launched last November, uses written information already available on the web to provide detailed, conversational answers to questions asked by users – and has been exploited to spit out everything from computer code to scripts.
Critics have raised concerns about plagiarism, and last week Italy’s own data protection regulator ordered a ban while investigating an alleged breach of European data protection rules.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 4, 2023.
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