Canadian data protection authorities determined that OpenAI collected personal information from users without adequate consent. The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner along with the bodies of Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta closed the investigation initiated in 2023.
Algorithms tracked sensitive data of minors
The investigation revealed that the company obtained data from public websites and licensed third-party sources. This process included social networks and forums that contained sensitive information about minors as well as users' political opinions or health status.
The report clarifies that direct conversations with ChatGPT do not constitute the main source of privacy risk. Regulators consider that these exchanges are used to improve the system's responsiveness and have mitigation measures already in place.
"All technology companies developing artificial intelligence must understand their legal obligations to protect privacy" - Diane McLeod, Alberta Privacy Commissioner
Diane McLeod warned during the press conference that the rapid development of artificial intelligence represents one of the biggest current challenges for the protection of individual privacy.
Ottawa prepares an updated federal law
Philippe Dufresne, federal privacy commissioner, stated that privacy is not an obstacle to innovation or economic development. However, he pointed out that Canada needs stronger enforcement mechanisms, including the power to issue binding orders.
Canadian Minister of Artificial Intelligence, Evan Solomon, announced that the government plans to soon present an updated federal privacy bill to strengthen the current legal framework.
The agencies qualified the complaint as well-founded and considered the case conditionally resolved. This decision comes after the changes made or planned by OpenAI to mitigate the risks detected during the audit.
OpenAI disagrees with the final conclusions and maintains that it largely complies with current legal regulations. The company claims to have limited the use of personal information for model training and has discontinued old versions of the system.