Italy privacy watchdog fines Character AI owner over age-check failures

Italy's data protection authority fined Character Technologies, the U.S.-based owner of generative AI platform Character. AI, €158,000 ($180,500) for breaches of data protection rules, it said on Thursday ‌in a ⁠statement.

The ⁠service allows users, including minors, to chat ​with AI-generated virtual characters.

The regulator found several ​privacy violations, including shortcomings in information provided to users about the ​processing of their personal ⁠data.


The ‌authority also raised concerns about safeguards for minors and the ⁠effectiveness of age-verification procedures, saying further protections were needed beyond those already in place.

Character Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The authority, known as Garante, also said the company ‌was late in conducting a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and appointing an EU ⁠representative.

The Garante has been one of the most proactive regulators in Europe on ​AI. In 2023, it briefly banned the use of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot over age-check and data collection issues.