OpenAI did not respect Canadian privacy laws in developing ChatGPT, probe finds

Privacy Commissioner Phillippe Dufresne says the probe into ChatGPT ‘identified several concerns’ regarding Canadians data information.

OTTAWA -- Federal and provincial privacy watchdogs say OpenAI failed to respect Canadian privacy laws when training its artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT chatbot.

The conclusions are contained in a report presented today following a joint investigation by federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and his counterparts from British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

They found OpenAI’s collection of information to train its models was overly broad, resulting in the compilation and use of sensitive personal details.

The regulators say this could include sensitive data such as individuals’ health conditions and political views, as well as information about children.

The probe found OpenAI did not clearly explain that personal information collected from publicly accessible sources could include data from social media, discussion forums and other similar websites.

The privacy watchdogs also say OpenAI provided inadequate notifications about potential inaccuracies in ChatGPT responses.

By Jim Bronskill and Anja Karadeglija

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.