Canada opens probe into OpenAI, the creator of AI chatbot ChatGPT following a complaint

Canada declared that it has started a probe into ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot created by the US-based software company OpenAI.

According to the agency, a "complaint claiming the acquisition, use, and dissemination of personal information without authorization" prompted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to launch an inquiry into OpenAI.

OpenAI's AI chatbot, which was introduced in November, analyses web data to deliver in-depth responses to users' questions.

When ChatGPT was introduced last year, it created a sensation throughout the world because of its capacity to produce essays, songs, examinations, and even news pieces from brief suggestions.

But detractors have long complained that it was unclear from whence ChatGPT and its rivals obtained their data or how they handled it.

Philippe Dufresne, the Canadian privacy commissioner, stated that one of his main areas of interest is "keeping up with and staying ahead of fast-moving technological advancements."

ChatGPT, which has financial backing from IT behemoth Microsoft and has already integrated the tool into a number of its services, is occasionally positioned as a possible rival to Google's search engine.

The Canadian regulator's action is in response to mounting requests for increased oversight of AI-powered technologies.

Recently, hundreds of international experts and billionaire Elon Musk, who founded OpenAI but is no longer on the board, called for a six-month pause in research on AI systems more potent than GPT-4, the most recent version of the software on which ChatGPT is based. They cited "profound risks to society and humanity."

With worries over data use, Italy also became the first nation in the West to restrict ChatGPT.

Recently, the European police organization Europol issued a warning that fraud and other cybercrimes are about to become easier for criminals to perpetrate thanks to artificial intelligence tools like conversational bots.