The move means that Grok AI, currently being pushed by Elon Musk, can’t use Europeans’ tweets.
It has done so after Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) took it to court in Ireland.
It means that Grok AI, currently being heavily pushed by Elon Musk, can’t use Europeans’ tweets.
The platform had forcibly opted EU citizens in to Grok’s training without asking permission. It meant that Grok AI was using X users’ personal information, including posts, to build its own AI as a rival to ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
“The DPC had significant concerns that the processing of personal data contained in the public posts of X’s EU and EEA users for the purpose of training its Al ‘Grok’ gave rise to a risk to the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals,” said the regulator in a statement.
However, the DPC now says that it won’t itself immediately rule on substantial issues around how and when big tech AI engines parse Europeans’ personal data.
Instead, it says that it will now refer the issue to the European Data Protection Board to adjudicate on and set rules. The move may be seen by the industry as a step back from being the undisputed primary regulator of big tech companies located in Ireland, instead evolving into a body that seeks to refer key decisions to a more federal European body.
“More broadly, the DPC is addressing issues arising from the use of personal data in Al models across industry,” the regulator said, referring to its pause in immediate decision-making on AI processing.
“Today, the DPC is making a request to the European Data Protection Board for an opinion, pursuant to Article 64 GDPR. This request will be made in order to trigger discussion and facilitate agreement, at EDPB level, on some of the core issues that arise in the context of processing for the purpose of developing and training an Al model, thereby bringing some much needed clarity into this complex area. The opinion invites the EDPB to consider, amongst other things, the extent to which personal data is processed at various stages of the training and operation of an Al model, including both first party and third party data and the related question of what particular considerations arise, in relation to the assessment of the legal basis being relied upon by the data controller to ground that processing.”
Adding context to the DPC’s decision to kick the can up to the EDPB, Commissioner Dale Sunderland said that it might help to build consensus on controversial issues in a better way.
“The DPC hopes that the resulting opinion will enable proactive, effective and consistent Europe-wide regulation of this area more broadly,” he said.
“It will also support the handling of a number of complaints that have been lodged with, or transmitted to, the DPC in relation to a range of different data controllers, for purposes connected with the training and development of various Al models.”