Ireland's DPC against banning chatbots

Helen Dixon warns against 'rushing into prohibitions'

Generative AI should be regulated but regulators shouldn't rush crackdowns in their scramble for safety, says Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner.

AI large language models are in their heyday this year. The explosion of ChatGPT - the world's fastest-growing internet app - was the starting point, followed by Microsoft adding the technology to Bing. Other tech giants, most notably Google, have followed suit in building and releasing their own competing products.

However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Notable personalities like Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk joined forces earlier this year to urge slower development of AI models; and regulators in Germany, Italy and elsewhere are cracking down on chatbots.

Not all regulators are taking such a heavy-handed approach. Helen Dixon, who leads Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) - itself a notably liberal organisation when it comes to tech - is against using a hammer to crack a walnut.

Speaking at a Bloomberg conference, Dixon said, "[AI] needs to be regulated and it's about figuring out how to regulate it properly. For the Irish Data Protection Commission, where we are at is trying to understand a little bit more about the technology, about the large language models, about where the training data is sourced.

"So I think it's early days, but it's time to be having those conversations now rather than rushing into prohibitions that really aren't going to stand up."

Italy's Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) said this week that it would be willing to lift the ban on ChatGPT if its developer, OpenAI, took "useful steps" to address its concerns by the end of April.

While other regulators and lawmakers have not yet followed suit, they are watching closely, especially in the EU. European MEPs this week called on world leaders to hold a summit to address the issue of increasingly powerful AI systems.