Illustrative photo (Photo: Reuters)

The decision was made just two days after billionaire Elon Musk and many technology experts signed a letter calling for a halt to the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI). Previously, ChatGPT was banned in China, Hong Kong (China), Iran, Russia and some parts of Africa.

Italy’s Data Protection Authority on Friday temporarily banned the Chatbot and launched a probe over the artificial intelligence application's suspected breach of privacy rules. The agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT's users who are supposed to be aged 13 or above.

ChatGPT has an "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the Chatbot, Garante said. OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 20 million euros ($21.68 million) or 4% of its annual worldwide turnover.      

OpenAI said it has disabled ChatGPT for users in Italy at the request of the Garante.

The website could not be reached in Italy. A notice on the ChatGPT webpage said the website's owner may have set restrictions that prevent users from accessing the site.

Open AI added it actively works to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because it wants its AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals.