A recent decision by X meant that those who did not consent to their data being used to train AI chatbot Grok would have to manually turn it off in settings.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) says Elon Musk’s X has decided to suspend processing personal data of EU users to train AI chatbot Grok.
The decision comes after the DPC took legal action against X (formerly Twitter) earlier this week by bringing an urgent High Court application under Section 134 of the Data Protection Act, which allows it to ask for an order to “suspend, restrict or prohibit” the processing of personal data.
Concerns arose after X started defaulting users into allowing their posts, interactions and even conversations to be shared with Grok, pitched as a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Grok is part of xAI, an AI start-up founded by Musk to compete in the increasingly competitive sector.
The decision by X meant that those who did not consent to their data being used to train Grok would have to manually turn it off, raising the eyebrows of data experts and EU regulators.
DPC chair Dr Des Hogan said he welcomes the decision made by X to suspend processing personal data while the DPC work with EU peers to examine the extent to which the processing complies with the GDPR.
“One of our main roles as an independent regulator and rights-based organisation is to ensure the best outcome for data subjects and today’s developments will help us to continue protecting the rights and freedoms of X users across the EU and EEA,” Hogan said.
“We will continue to engage with all data controllers to ensure the rights of our citizens under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the GDPR are upheld.”
‘Potential for data misuse’
Since the launch of Grok, xAI has worked on various AI models and has released some open-source offerings. It raised $6bn in May from various high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, to bring its products to market.
Matthew Hodgson, CEO and co-founder of UK-based encrypted messaging platform Element, recently said that the decision by X to utilise user data for its Grok chatbot without explicit consent raises significant privacy concerns.
“It is also important to remember that X is rampant with fake news and extremist views, which is not what you want an LLM trained on. This practice not only undermines user trust but also has potential implications for data misuse,” he said.
“There’s a risk that sensitive information could be inadvertently incorporated into the AI model, leading to privacy breaches or the creation of biased algorithms.”
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