OpenAI didn’t respect Canadian privacy law when it trained ChatGPT: investigation

Source Domain: www.cbc.ca

Listen to this article

Estimated 5 minutes

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.

OpenAI did not respect Canadian privacy laws when it trained its immensely popular ChatGPT tool, resulting in the collection and use of sensitive personal information, according to a joint investigation.

The federal privacy commissioner and his counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta outlined their findings Wednesday morning into ChatGPT— a chatbot launched in 2022 that generates conversational, human-like responses when users type in questions or tasks.

The privacy watchdogs’ started their probe in 2023 following a complaint that the company unlawfully collected, used and disclosed personal information without consent.

According to their review, they identified “several concerns that led us to find that the way in which OpenAI had initially trained ChatGPT did not respect federal and provincial privacy laws.”

They found OpenAI gathered vast amounts of personal information without safeguards to prevent use of that information to train its models.

“This could include sensitive details such as individuals’ health conditions and political views, as well as information about children,” said their report.

It also found many users were unaware that their data was collected and used to train ChatGPT.

WATCH | Investigation found ChatGPT ‘not compliant’ with Canadian laws, say privacy watchdogs:

Investigation found ChatGPT ‘not compliant’ with Canadian laws, say privacy watchdogs

A joint investigation found OpenAI did not follow Canadian privacy laws by collecting and using sensitive personal information while training its ChatGPT tool. ‘There was a sense that [OpenAI] had to move quickly, but we found that problematic,’ said Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne.

“OpenAI launched ChatGPT without having fully addressed known…

Source