Google has had to delay the launch of its artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, in Europe owing to privacy concerns raised by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), the company’s main data regulator in the EU.
On Tuesday, the Irish Data Protection Commission, which serves as Google’s main European data supervisor under the GDPR, stated that the tech company has not yet presented enough information about how its generative AI tool safeguards the privacy of Europeans. This insufficiency of information does not justify a launch of the tool in the EU.
“Google recently informed the Data Protection Commission of its intention to launch Bard in the EU this week,” said Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle. The regulatory authority added that it “had not had any detailed briefing nor sight of a data protection impact assessment or any supporting documentation at this point.”
Thus, the launch of Bard in Europe has been postponed. “Bard will now not launch this week,” said Doyle.
GDPR comes in Google Bard\u2019s way<\/span>
The Irish regulator has requested Google to provide a thorough evaluation and respond to further inquiries about how Bard complies with EU data protection regulations.
Earlier this year, ChatGPT, another generative AI chatbot from OpenAI, caught the attention of several EU data protection authorities. In April, the Garante, a local DPA, intervened and briefly compelled ChatGPT to suspend its service in Italy. This move forced the company to introduce an option to disable data sharing for training the OpenAI\u2019s GPT model.
“We said in May that we wanted to make Bard more widely available, including in the European Union, and that we would do so responsibly after engagement with experts, regulators, and policymakers. As part of that process, we have been talking with privacy regulators to address their questions and hear feedback,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.
At the moment, there is no information available regarding the release date of Bard in the European Union.<\/div>\n