The Data Protection Commission (DPC) in Ireland, the lead regulator for X across the EU, expressed surprise at the development, stating that it had been in talks with Musk's company about data collection and AI models. Large language models, such as Grok, use vast amounts of data from the internet to understand language patterns and generate convincing responses. However, this approach has faced opposition from news publishers, authors, and regulators, citing copyright breaches and regulatory concerns.
Key takeaways:
- Elon Musk's X platform is facing scrutiny from data regulators over a default setting that allows user posts to be used for training AI systems without explicit consent.
- The UK and Irish data watchdogs have contacted X over this issue, which appears to be a violation of UK GDPR regulations that prohibit the use of pre-ticked boxes or default consent methods.
- The setting, which is activated by default, permits the user's posts and interactions with Grok, an AI chatbot, to be used for training and fine-tuning. This setting can only be turned off on the web version of X.
- The Data Protection Commission in Ireland, the lead regulator for X across the EU, expressed surprise at the default setting and is awaiting a response from X. Large language models like Grok use vast amounts of data to build a statistical understanding of language, a practice that has faced opposition from various sectors.