Ιtaly's Privacy Regulatory Authority has ruled that OpenAI's ChatGPT tool and its user data collection techniques violate the country's privacy laws.

The verdict, officially announced today, Monday, follows an investigation initiated by the authority last March and communicated to the artificial intelligence company.

In its statement, the Italian organization notes that 'the data acquired may indicate one or more violations of EU regulations.' OpenAI, headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Microsoft, has 30 days to respond to the investigation's findings.

Italy emerged as the foremost nation in Western Europe to implement restrictions on ChatGPT, a platform whose swift evolution has garnered scrutiny from various legal and regulatory bodies.

As per the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) established in the European Union in 2018, companies violating these guidelines risk penalties amounting to as much as 4% of their worldwide revenue.

In a significant development in December, EU legislators and administrative bodies reached a preliminary agreement on the regulatory framework for AI technologies, including ChatGPT, marking progress in the establishment of norms for overseeing these advancements.