Privacy commissioners’ report on OpenAI emphasizes Calgarians’ need for better online safety
Privacy commissioners’ report on OpenAI emphasizes Calgarians’ need for better online safety
Publish Date: 2026-05-11 18:29:00
Source Domain: livewirecalgary.com
As cybercrime continues to rise in Calgary, a joint provincial inquiry into the generative artificial intelligence company found that certain versions of its popular software, ChatGPT, violated several Canadian privacy laws.
Conducted through the combined efforts of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and authorities in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, the May 6 report investigated the extent to which the program collected, used, and disclosed citizens’ personal information.
Regulators found that two versions of the software, GPT-3.5 and 4 — released less than a year after ChatGPT’s November 2022 launch — failed to adequately obtain user consent upon gathering “vast amounts” of data.
The investigation uncovered that many users did not understand that their conversations were being used to train the AI model, and that some of the information collected from social media and online discussion forums contained sensitive details, including those of underage patrons.
From this, the document determined that much of the information was later unconsensually and inaccurately regurgitated as opinions under the guise of fact, thereby spreading misinformation and infringing on users’ right to privacy.
These findings prompted the regulators to recommend changes to OpenAI’s operations. The identified issues have since been marked as resolved, subject to the company updating its privacy policy to improve user consent and the accuracy of its outputs.
Regardless, Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod said that, even with these improvements, the software’s actions remain discouraging, especially considering that the platform was launched long after the province’s private-sector privacy law was enacted in 2004.
“From the Alberta perspective, I want to note first that it is unfortunate and disappointing that technology companies have moved ahead so quickly with new developments and innovations,…
