Social media platform X has agreed not to train its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users prior to them being given the option to withdraw their consent.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission’s (DPC), the lead EU regulator for many top U.S. internet firms, sought an order this week to suspend or restrict X from processing user data for developing, training, or refining its AI systems.
A lawyer for the platform X, previously known as Twitter, said during a hearing in an Irish court on Thursday that data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1 will not be used until the court rules on the DPC’s order.
X, owned by Elon Musk, claims that it allows all users to decide if their public posts can be used by the platform’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. To do so, it claims, users have to untick a box in their privacy settings to opt out.
However, Judge Leonie Reynolds said it was clear that X began processing EU users’ data to train its AI systems on May 7 and only offered the option to opt out from July 16. The feature was also not initially rolled out to all users, she said.
Lawyers for X are due to file opposition papers against the suspension order by September 4.
X decries the order as ‘unwarranted’
In a post on the social media platform on Wednesday, the X Global Government Affairs account said the order sought by the regulator was “unwarranted, overboard and singles out X without any justification.”
Alphabet’s Google also agreed to delay and make changes to its Gemini AI chatbot earlier this year following consultations with the Irish regulator.
A lawyer for the platform X, previously known as Twitter, said during a hearing in an Irish court on Thursday that data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1 will not be used until the court rules on the DPC’s order.
X, owned by Elon Musk, claims that it allows all users to decide if their public posts can be used by the platform’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. To do so, it claims, users have to untick a box in their privacy settings to opt out.
However, Judge Leonie Reynolds said it was clear that X began processing EU users’ data to train its AI systems on May 7 and only offered the option to opt out from July 16. The feature was also not initially rolled out to all users, she said.
Lawyers for X are due to file opposition papers against the suspension order by September 4.
X decries the order as ‘unwarranted’
In a post on the social media platform on Wednesday, the X Global Government Affairs account said the order sought by the regulator was “unwarranted, overboard and singles out X without any justification.”
The regulator’s concerns over how X uses the data follows Meta Platforms’ decision in June not to launch its Meta AI models in Europe for the time being after the Irish DPC told it to delay its plan.The order that the Irish DPC has sought is unwarranted, overbroad and singles out X without any justification. This is deeply troubling.
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 6, 2024
The order applies not just to Grok but to any AI model that X uses, potentially impacting our work to keep the platform safe and possibly the…
Alphabet’s Google also agreed to delay and make changes to its Gemini AI chatbot earlier this year following consultations with the Irish regulator.
Source: Reuters, TVP World
More In Society MORE...
