Ireland's Data Protection Commission recently sought an order to suspend or restrict Elon Musk-owned microblogging platform X from processing user data to develop, train or refine its AI system. Following this, an Irish court on Thursday heard that X has agreed to not train its AI model by using the personal data collected from European Union users before they had the option to withdraw their consent.
Elon Musk's X platform has announced that users can now choose whether their public posts are used by the platform's AI chatbot, Grok. To opt out, users need to untick a box in their privacy settings.
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What Went Down?
Judge Leonie Reynolds noted that X started processing data from EU users to train its AI systems on May 7, but only introduced the opt-out option on July 16. Additionally, this feature was not immediately available to all users.
A lawyer representing X, formerly known as Twitter, stated that the data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1 would not be utilised until the Irish Data Protection Commission’s (DPC) order is resolved by the court.
The platform's legal team is expected to submit opposition papers regarding the suspension order by September 4, as discussed in court.
X Global Government Affairs account on Wednesday said that the order sought by the regulator was “unwarranted, overboard and singles out X without any justification.”
What Led To This?
The regulator's concerns about X's data usage arise in the wake of Meta Platforms' decision in June to hold off on launching its Meta AI models in Europe. This move came after the Irish DPC advised Meta to postpone its plans.
Similarly, Alphabet's Google decided earlier this year to delay and modify its Gemini AI chatbot after discussions with the Irish regulator.