Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister is not a fan of regulators’ decision to ban ChatGPT, fearing Italy will fall behind the rest of the world.

The Italian Data Protection Authority announced it was banning ChatGPT at the end of March, citing privacy concerns. At the time, the agency said it could not justify “the mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of ‘training’ the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform”.

According to Reuters, Italy Deputy PM and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, while emphasizing the agency’s independence, said he disagreed with the decision.

“This is a work tool that many young people, many companies, many start-ups were using and I hope that they can use it again as soon as possible, because otherwise Italy will have a gap compared to all other European countries,” Salvini said.

“If only one (EU) country out of 27 has made this choice, either the other 26 are distracted, tolerant and uninterested, or there has clearly been too much zeal,” the minister added.