07:22 AM EST, 12/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed (MSFT) OpenAI was fined 15 million euros ($15.6 million) by the Italian Data Protection Authority and was mandated a six-month public awareness campaign across radio, television, newspapers and the internet.

The investigation, launched in March 2023, found that OpenAI violated several provisions of the GPDR, including failure to notify the regulatory about a data breach in March 2023, processing personal data for training ChatGPT without a valid legal basis, as well as the lack of age verification mechanisms, exposing children under 13 to potentially inappropriate content.

The regulator transferred the case to the Irish Data Protection Commission under the GDPR for further examination of any ongoing violations.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.