According to Cointelegraph: The city of Trento in Italy has been handed a fine for its misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, marking the first such fine issued to a city in the country, according to the Italian Data Protection Authority.
The city had been carrying out two scientific research projects that employed cameras, microphones, and social networks, utilizing AI technology in ways that were found to violate data protection laws. Consequently, the data privacy watchdog fined Trento 50,000 euros ($54,373), a first for any local administration in Italy.
While the Italian Data Protection Authority acknowledged that Trento had acted in good faith, it pointed out that the collected data was neither sufficiently anonymized nor correctly shared with third parties. The authority lambasted the city's "massive and invasive processing methods," which it noted posed significant risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the related parties.
Despite the fine, the municipality of Trento has raised objections to the decision, remarking that the regulator's actions reveal a shortcoming in current legislation to adequately govern the use of AI in analyzing large swathes of data and enhancing city security.
Italy has actively engaged with the ongoing evolution of AI, demonstrated when it became the first country to ban OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot ChatGPT over concerns about compliance with local transparency requirements. The country removed the ban after OpenAI satisfied these stipulations.
In recent developments, Italy announced on January 5 that AI regulation would be one of its top priorities during its upcoming G7 presidency in June.