Elon Musk’s company X has agreed to halt the use of data from European Union users to train its Grok artificial intelligence. This decision follows pressure from European regulators and concludes a legal dispute that started in August.
The agreement was announced by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees X’s operations in Europe, on Wednesday (4).
Grok AI and European data
The dispute began when the Data Protection Commission (DPC) asked Ireland’s High Court in early August to suspend X’s use of EU data for training Grok, citing concerns over compliance with EU data protection rules. The DPC argued that using this data could infringe on users’ rights.
Following the court’s request, X temporarily halted the use of EU data. This decision was formalized this week, effectively ending the legal proceedings.
According to the DPC, X will delete data from EU users collected from public posts on its platform between May 7 and August 1, 2024, which had been used to train Grok.
DPC Commissioner Dale Sunderland stated: “The DPC hopes that this action will lead to proactive, effective, and consistent regulation across Europe on this issue.”
Besides X, other tech companies, such as Meta, have faced similar scrutiny over using personal data for AI training. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has created challenges for companies by imposing strict requirements on handling personal data, leading to various disputes with regulators.
