TOKYO Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission on Friday said it had issued a warning to OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed provider of ChatGPT app, regarding the collection of users' and third-party data in its machine learning process.

The commission on Thursday told OpenAI "not to collect personal information that require special care from ChatGPT users and other parties", adding the watchdog may take "additional steps" if it recognises more concerns, according to a press release.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman in April visited Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and announced a plan to expand services in the country, ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit where Kishida led the discussion on international artificial intelligence regulation.

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)