Germany is joining other European nations in scrutinizing the use of personal data by the popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT and demanding answers from its US maker OpenAI, a regulator said on Monday.
Regional data protection authorities in Europe’s top economy have compiled a questionnaire for OpenAI and expect a response by June 11, said Marit Hansen, commissioner for the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
“We want to know if a data protection impact assessment has been carried out and if the data protection risks are under control,” Hansen said. “We are asking OpenAI for information on issues that stem from the European General Data Protection Regulation.”
Photo: Reuters
German authorities want to verify whether OpenAI under EU law sufficiently informs people whose data are used by ChatGPT that they “have rights, for example to access, correct or even delete their data,” she said.
It is also necessary to “clarify how these rights can be exercised,” she said, adding that regulators were particularly concerned about the processing of data relating to minors.
“As soon as personal data of European citizens is processed, European data protection law must be respected,” she said.
Italy last month temporarily banned the program over allegations its data-gathering broke privacy laws. It has since asked OpenAI to adjust its chatbot so it could be back online in the country at the end of this month.
France’s regulator earlier this month said that it had opened a formal procedure after receiving five complaints, while Spain’s AEPD data protection agency said it had opened an inquiry into the software and its US owner.
The EU’s central data regulator has formed a task force to help countries harmonize their policies and address privacy concerns.
Meanwhile, Cisco Systems Inc warned that AI software such as ChatGPT would make phishing attempts much harder to detect, requiring companies to adopt new defenses.
About 80 percent of illicit access into computer systems already comes via phishing, where hackers send e-mail or texts to people hoping to trick them into opening a malicious link.
AI tools can quickly customize those missives, luring more people into hackers’ schemes, said Jeetu Patel, the head of Cisco’s security and collaboration units.
“Attacks are going to get much more bespoke,” he said on Monday during a briefing in San Francisco, which is hosting the RSA Conference this week.
Until now, phishing e-mails have been relatively easy to spot because they are not tailored to individual recipients. They often have spelling mistakes and other giveaways. With the new generation of attacks, it would be harder to count on human users to spot the ruse, increasing the threat of network shutdowns and extortion attempts.
The solution is to rapidly sift through Internet traffic data and identify patterns that indicate something bad is about to happen or has just happened, Patel said.
Cisco sees this as an opportunity. The company, which leads the market for networking equipment, can use its position to analyze data flows, he said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in