The regulatory body has also mandated that OpenAI conduct a six-month public awareness campaign across Italian media to educate the public on how ChatGPT operates, particularly concerning data usage. Image: Rolf Van Root / Unsplash.

Italy's data protection authority, also known as Garante, announced on December 20 that it has fined OpenAI 15 million euros (around $15.58 million) following an investigation which was launched back in 2023, into privacy violations associated with the company's generative AI platform, ChatGPT.

The Italian regulator concluded that OpenAI improperly processed users' personal data for training purposes without a legal basis and failed to provide adequate transparency and information to users. The investigation also determined that OpenAI lacked an effective age verification system, leaving children under 13 vulnerable to potentially inappropriate AI-generated content. 

The regulatory body has also mandated that OpenAI conduct a six-month public awareness campaign across Italian media to educate the public on how ChatGPT operates, particularly concerning data usage.

OpenAI has called the fine "disproportionate" and announced plans to appeal the decision.

ChatGPT was briefly banned in Italy last year over alleged General Data Protection and Regulation (GDPR) violations but was reinstated after the company addressed issues such as allowing users to opt out of data processing for algorithm training.