Italy has suspended ChatGPT while conducting a data protection investigation.

That is the first time a national agency has taken such action against ChatGPT, the enormously popular chatbot from OpenAI released late last year. While the technology's ability to create computer code and pass difficult exams has astounded many some have expressed concern about its progress. While the country's data protection authorities look into ChatGPT's user data gathering, it has been banned in Italy.

Since going live at the end of last year the chatbot run by OpenAI and given financial support by Microsoft has racked up more than 100 million monthly active users.

Yet there have been questions about accuracy and biases it has threatened to upend everything from search engines to creative writing. Facebook will be stopped while an investigation into a possible violation of its data collecting policies and a failure to verify the users' ages is ongoing Italian officials announced on Friday. The software is intended for use by those at least 13 years old.

The San Francisco based company according to Italy's data protection commission "lacks a legal foundation that allows the vast gathering and storage of personal data to train the operation's algorithms." This is the first time a national agency has taken such action against ChatGPT last week the service suffered a hack exposing user conversations and payment information.

A request for comment from OpenAI has yet to receive a prompt response. If more regulators act it will come as no surprise. The prohibition follows a warning from the EU law enforcement agency Europol that criminals might use ChatGPT online to disseminate false information. It "wouldn't be shocking" according to Edward Machin of Ropes & Gray to see more authorities follow Italy's example. It's simple to overlook the fact that ChatGPT has only recently become widely used he noted. Most users will have to pay more attention to how their privacy might be impacted if their data is utilized for training the algorithms that power the product.

Consumers need to be enough cremation to make informed decisions even though they might be open to such an exchange. Worst again the processing of personal data might not be permitted by law. While ChatGPT has amazed many onlookers with its capacity to write computer code, solve issues and pass the most difficult exams. Some have expressed concern over the pace of its development and acceptance. Last week Elon Musk joined a group of AI professionals in advocating for a halt to training what are known as big language models such as ChatGPT.

Students receive extensive training using data from books, the internet and other sources. More than 1,000 people signed the Future of Life Institute statement which cautioned that "AI systems with human competitive intelligence can pose fundamental hazards to society and mankind."

It came after the release of OpenAI's GPT-4 a new and enhanced version of the technology powering its chatbot. It runs the Bing search engine from Microsoft and will soon be added to Office programs like Teams and Outlook.

Four AI specialists whose work was referenced in the letter have now disputed the call. According to University of Washington professor Emily Bender some of the accusations made are unhinged.