Vienna:
A Vienna-based privacy campaign group said on Monday it would file a complaint against ChatGPT in Austria, claiming its “hallucinatory” flagship AI tool comes up with wrong answers that maker OpenAI cannot correct.
NOYB (“None of Your Business”) said there was no way to guarantee the program would produce accurate information. “ChatGPT continues to hallucinate – and even OpenAI can't stop it,” the group said in a statement.
The company has openly acknowledged that it cannot correct the inaccurate information produced by its generative AI tool and has not explained where the data comes from and what ChatGPT stores about individuals, the group said.
Such errors are unacceptable for information about individuals, because EU law stipulates that personal data must be accurate, NOYB argued.
“If a system cannot produce accurate and transparent results, it cannot be used to generate data about individuals,” says Maartje de Graaf, data protection lawyer at NOYB.
“The technology must meet regulatory requirements, not the other way around.”
ChatGPT “repeatedly provided incorrect information” about NOYB founder Max Schrems' date of birth “instead of telling users that it does not have the necessary data,” the group said.
OpenAI refused Schrems' request to correct or delete the data, despite it being incorrect, saying this was impossible, NOYB added.
The company also “failed to respond adequately” to his request for access to his personal data, again in violation of EU law, NOYB said, and the company “does not even appear to pretend that it can comply” .
The campaign group, which has emerged as a fierce critic of tech giants since its founding in 2018, said it was asking Austria's data protection authority to investigate and fine OpenAI to bring it into line with EU law.
ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022 and caused a frenzy among technology users, dazzled by its ability to complete dissertations, poems or translations in just a few seconds.
But criticism of the technology has since prompted legal action in some countries.
Italy temporarily blocked the program in March 2023, while the French regulator began an investigation after a series of complaints.
A European working group has also been established to improve coordination, although NOYB remains skeptical of authorities' efforts to regulate AI.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)