Italian watchdog warns publisher GEDI against data sharing with OpenAI

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s data protection watchdog warned Italian broadcaster GEDI against sharing personal data archives with ChatGPT owner OpenAI, raising concerns about possible breaches of EU rules, it said on Friday.

GEDI, owned by Exor, the Agnelli family’s holding company, announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI in September to deliver Italian-language content from the publisher’s portfolio of news sources to users of the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence startup.

In Italy, GEDI publishes the daily newspapers la Repubblica and La Stampa.

Under the OpenAI agreement, ChatGPT users will have access to quotes, content and links attributed to GEDI’s publications, while GEDI’s journalism can also be used to improve the accuracy of OpenAI products.

“The newspapers’ digital archives contain the stories of millions of people, along with information, details and even highly sensitive personal data that cannot be licensed by third parties without due care in training the AI,” the regulator said in a statement. he said.

“If GEDI discloses personal data in its archive to OpenAI based on the agreement signed with OpenAI, it may violate EU regulations with all the consequences, including those of a sanction nature.”

GEDI said that the agreement it signed with OpenAI does not include the sale of personal data. “The project has not yet been launched, so no editorial content has been submitted to OpenAI at this time and will not be submitted until ongoing reviews are completed,” he said in a statement.

The Italian broadcaster said it would continue to meet with authorities and hoped “a constructive dialogue can be opened quickly to protect the interests and rights of all parties involved.”

OpenAI representatives were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, Editing by David Goodman and Marguerita Choy)