15 Countries That Banned ChatGPT

Published on July 6, 2023 at 4:43 pm by Sana Ijaz in Lists, News

In this insightful article, we’ll find which countries have banned ChatGPT and understand why this artificial intelligence chatbot is banned despite its widespread use cases. If you want to skip the details, read 5 Countries That Banned ChatGPT.

The rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly when it comes to OpenAI’s GPT-4, i.e., ChatGPT, is dramatically reshaping business landscapes. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history by bagging 100 million users within two months of its launch.

Businesses use it for customer service automation, business intelligence, and strategic decision-making, among other functions. However, the adoption of ChatGPT is not universal, with some countries introducing regulations or outright bans on its use. This trend presents a contradiction; while AI promises to propel innovation by automating a plethora of digital tasks, it is also viewed as a potential threat that necessitates regulation.

Countries that banned ChatGPT after its launch in November 2022 have concerns about the spread of misinformation, data breaches, and internet censorship implemented at governmental levels. Unsurprisingly, dictatorial governments were the first countries to ban ChatGPT when Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and other partners of OpenAI made it publicly available. Aside from the governments controlling the public’s internet access, nations’ conflicts with the U.S. are the second biggest reason ChatGPT is not available in all countries.

Regulation Concerns About ChatGPT

At the heart of concerns of ChatGPT-banned countries lies the immense potential for its beneficial use cases clouded with extreme potential risks of misuse or unintended consequences. The uncontrolled output of AI models like ChatGPT can cause privacy violations and spread misinformation if there’s no fact-checking in place.

Moreover, as ChatGPT works on a trained language model, the biases embedded in its training data show in the AI outputs. If left unregulated, these data outputs can propagate or amplify harmful stereotypes. For instance, in some use cases, generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, and Bard, developed by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) output data that is plainly wrong or misleading, a phenomnon described as artificial hallucination. When cross-checked or asked the same questions again, ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Bard give different answers, questioning the extent that we can rely on them.

Regulatory measures can mitigate these concerns of countries that banned ChatGPT or those individuals skeptical of its credibility, but careful crafting is needed to avoid stifling innovation. Policy frameworks could be devised around principles of accountability and transparency to compel AI developers like Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to disclose information regarding the training data, algorithmic operations, and potential biases in their systems.

Along with these giants, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is also investing heavily in AI workflows. The primary goals of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in the generative AI sphere include developing AI accelerators and software optimization tools. As NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) develops frameworks for every stage of the AI workflow, it can facilitate multiple AI use cases for businesses.

Why Did Italy Ban ChatGPT?

Countries that banned ChatGPT include Italy as well. It joined the club in March 2023. Italy imposed the ban on ChatGPT because of contention around its compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Italy’s data protection watchdog expressed concerns that OpenAI’s language model was not conforming to the stringent data protection rules set forth by GDPR and ordered it to stop processing Italian users’ data while the matter was under investigation. The data concerns rose after Garante, the Italian data protection authority, cited a breach that let ChatGPT users see others’ conversations with the AI tool. Specifically, the watchdog asserted that ChatGPT was processing Italian residents’ data in a way that potentially contravened GDPR’s principles. However, the language model was unbanned in April 2023 after OpenAI responded to the watchdog’s apprehensions about the loopholes in ChatGPT’s data protection efforts.

Moreover, some other users reported issues like seeing conversation titles in their ChatGPT history tab that didn’t belong to them. The concerns led to ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman accepting that a bug had impacted the platform’s data security and that mitigation measures were underway. Consequently, ChatGPT was temporarily shut down for users across the globe on March 20, 2023, while the bug underwent fixing.

Is ChatGPT Still Banned in Ukraine?

War-torn Ukraine was also amongst the countries that couldn’t access ChatGPT when it was made publicly available. Interestingly, the reason wasn’t the Ukrainian government banning the AI platform but OpenAI not relaying its services to the country.

The initial banning stemmed from a specific concern about the potential misuse of AI in areas under political and military dispute, notably the Russian-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the annexed region of Crimea. OpenAI, based on its sense of ethical responsibility, found it inevitable to ensure that the tool does not inadvertently contribute to the dissemination of disinformation.

Therefore, the company chose to implement a temporary blanket restriction for Ukraine due to technical limitations in segregating the network coverage to exclude the specific troubled zones.

However, after repeated efforts of the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, and given the country’s interest in the AI boom, ChatGPT was made available in Ukraine. It is no longer under a ban in Ukraine after February 2023, as per the recent changes in the accessibility policy.

Why Are Some Countries Excluded From ChatGPT Use?

OpenAI mainly decides on countries that can access ChatGPT based on geopolitical constraints, legal considerations, data protection regulations, and internet accessibility. One notable factor that can exclude some nations from using the AI chatbot is the stringent data protection laws, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Notably, some countries are barred from accessing ChatGPT APIs from the OpenAI because of reasons not specified. However, speculations are that countries like Eritrea, Eswatini, Chad, and the Central African Republic aren’t allowed to access ChatGPT because of their limited internet needs. Also, some African countries haven’t actively tried to get ChatGPT to sustain their internal political stability.

15 Countries That Banned ChatGPT

Methodology

We sorted the list of countries where ChatGPT is not available according to their GDP in ascending order because the higher a country’s GDP, the more significant the effect of banning ChatGPT or not being able to access it. Also, be noted that some countries have voluntarily banned ChatGPT while others cannot access it because OpenAI has not authenticated them. Therefore, we’ll cover major countries and their reasons for being away from ChatGPT from both categories to provide a holistic perspective. However, this list is not exhaustive as ChatGPT is a new service and is in the process of expanding its footprint, so there’s limited data on which countries can wholly access it.

Based on our findings, here are the 15 countries that banned ChatGPT:

15. Eritrea

Eritrea is not authenticated to use ChatGPT; this inaccessibility stems from restrictions imposed by OpenAI, which has not extended its operations to this specific geopolitical territory. Factors behind this limitation could include technological infrastructure and policy stipulations stopping the nation’s AI advancement.

14. Eswatini

Eswatini, a Southern African monarchy, currently lacks access to ChatGPT. As OpenAI has certain operational limitations, it renders Eswatini outside its service ambit. Such inequitable AI technology distribution hinders the potential advancements in communication and automation that Eswatini’s populace could otherwise experience.

13. South Sudan

South Sudan can also not avail itself of the sophisticated functionalities of ChatGPT. Such restrictions represent a solid obstacle to access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies and create disparities in the global AI landscape.

12. Syria

War-impacted Syria is also on the list of countries where ChatGPT is not available. This ban exemplifies a deep-seated anxiety and insecurity of the Syrian government over the “potential misuse” of such AI-driven technology for the “propagation of misinformation” that can threaten “national security” and “stability”. Given the nation’s controls over internet access, the unrestricted proliferation of information via AI tools is perceived as a potential catalyst for civil unrest and discord. The ban also shows an inherent skepticism toward U.S. technology companies, particularly OpenAI.

11. Chad

Chad cannot use ChatGPT as of current, due to OpenAI’s present operational constraints in the region. The underlying reason for this limitation in Chad can be the compliance with international technology regulations, but as OpenAI is expanding its services, these countries might get to use ChatGPT soon.

10. Yemen

OpenAI’s operations, as of the time of writing this article, are not extended to Yemen. Notwithstanding the incredible potential of such a conversational AI, Yemen remains secluded from making use of the capabilities of ChatGPT.

9. Afghanistan

Afghanistan is also on the list of countries where ChatGPT is not available because of OpenAI’s interoperability. The non-accessibility is influenced by digital infrastructure, policy limitations, and cybersecurity concerns. However, as the global digital landscape continues to evolve, we might see the country getting ChatGPT access in the near future.

8. North Korea

North Korea is the most obvious in our list of countries where ChatGPT is banned. North Korean government is infamous for its rigid information control strategy, and the nation has recently outlawed the use of ChatGPT. The decision appears to align with the broader dictatorship rules of Kim Jong-Un’s regime, where technologies and platforms might expose the populace to contrasting viewpoints or narratives that diverge from the state-sanctioned orthodoxy. The ban on ChatGPT is a continuation of the country’s unyielding policy of information containment, as conversational AI has the potential to offer unregulated perspectives.

7. Libya

As of the time of writing this article, Libya cannot utilize ChatGPT because of OpenAI’s policy related to its API distribution, which currently does not extend to Libyan territories. This inaccessibility is not linked to technical inadequacies but rather reflects OpenAI’s strategic decisions pertaining to global distribution.

6. Sudan

Despite the extensive global reach of artificial intelligence applications, Sudan remains an unfortunate exception in accessing the capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Some regulatory and technological challenges have impeded the extension of OpenAI’s API services to this region. Intriguingly, this situation highlights a critical instance of AI’s “geographical gap,” where a sophisticated language model, like ChatGPT, is constrained by boundaries outside its digital domain.

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