Saudi Communications, Space, and Technology Commission Joins Digital Sustainability Alliance with ITU

The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) logo
The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) logo
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Saudi Communications, Space, and Technology Commission Joins Digital Sustainability Alliance with ITU

The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) logo
The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) logo

The Saudi Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) has joined the Digital Sustainability Alliance (DSA) with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The announcement was made in the presence of ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) held in Dubai.

The alliance of DSA and ITU aims to stimulate opportunities for partnerships and expand the scope of coordination with the communications and technology community to participate in finding and developing digital solutions to address climate challenges, through the transition to digital infrastructure that enables sustainable environmental solutions.

CST said in a statement that by joining the alliance, it seeks to come up with sustainable digital solutions to address climate challenges, develop and implement regulations that enable the circular economy to contribute to reducing carbon emissions and the effects of climate change, and move to an environment-friendly digital infrastructure through cooperation with partners in the government and private sectors and UN organizations.



Italy Fines OpenAI over ChatGPT Privacy Rules Breach

The Italian watchdog also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on Italian media to raise public awareness about how ChatGPT works - Reuters
The Italian watchdog also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on Italian media to raise public awareness about how ChatGPT works - Reuters
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Italy Fines OpenAI over ChatGPT Privacy Rules Breach

The Italian watchdog also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on Italian media to raise public awareness about how ChatGPT works - Reuters
The Italian watchdog also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on Italian media to raise public awareness about how ChatGPT works - Reuters

Italy's data protection agency said on Friday it fined ChatGPT maker OpenAI 15 million euros ($15.58 million) after closing an investigation into use of personal data by the generative artificial intelligence application.

The fine comes after the authority found OpenAI processed users' personal data to "train ChatGPT without having an adequate legal basis and violated the principle of transparency and the related information obligations towards users".

OpenAI said the decision was "disproportionate" and that the company will file an appeal against it.

The investigation, which started in 2023, also concluded that the US-based company did not have an adequate age verification system in place to prevent children under the age of 13 from being exposed to inappropriate AI-generated content, the authority said, Reuters reported.

The Italian watchdog also ordered OpenAI to launch a six-month campaign on Italian media to raise public awareness about how ChatGPT works, particularly as regards to data collection of users and non-users to train algorithms.

Italy's authority, known as Garante, is one of the European Union's most proactive regulators in assessing AI platform compliance with the bloc's data privacy regime.

Last year it briefly banned the use of ChatGPT in Italy over alleged breaches of EU privacy rules.

The service was reactivated after Microsoft-backed OpenAI addressed issues concerning, among other things, the right of users to refuse consent for the use of personal data to train the algorithms.

"They've since recognised our industry-leading approach to protecting privacy in AI, yet this fine is nearly twenty times the revenue we made in Italy during the relevant period," OpenAI said, adding the Garante's approach "undermines Italy's AI ambitions".

The regulator said the size of its 15-million-euro fine was calculated taking into account OpenAI's "cooperative stance", suggesting the fine could have been even bigger.

Under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced in 2018, any company found to have broken rules faces fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of its global turnover.