- X platform defaults user posts for AI training
- UK and Irish data regulators express concern
- GDPR prohibits default consent for data use
Elon Musk’s X platform is under fire from data regulators after discovering that users consent to their postings being used to construct artificial intelligence systems through a default setting on the app.
The UK and Irish data watchdogs said they had contacted X without their knowledge regarding the apparent attempt to obtain user consent for data collection.
On Friday, an X user raised the issue, pointing to an app setting enabled by default and allowing the account holder’s posts to be utilized for training Grok, an AI chatbot made by Musk’s xAI company.
Companies cannot utilize “pre-ticked boxes” or “any other method of default consent” under the UK GDPR, which is based on the EU data law of the same name.
The setting, which includes a checkbox, specifies that you “allow your posts and your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning.” According to the X user, the setting can only be turned off on the web version of X.
Data regulators immediately expressed concern about the default setting. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the United Kingdom stated it was “making inquiries” with X.
According to an ICO spokeswoman, platforms that want to train their AI foundation models using user data must be transparent about their operations.
They should take proactive steps to alert users well in advance of utilizing data for these reasons, give consumers adequate time, and provide simple mechanisms to object to their data being used in this manner.
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The Data Protection Commission (DPC) in the Republic of Ireland, the principal regulator for X in the European Union, stated that it had already spoken with Musk’s business concerning data collecting and AI models this week and was “surprised” to learn about the default option.
The DPC has been communicating with X on this topic for several months, with our most recent conversation occurring just yesterday. Therefore, we are startled by today’s developments. We followed up with X today and are expecting his response. A DPC deputy commissioner, Graham Doyle, stated that further involvement is expected early next week.
Large language models power chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok. They are fed massive amounts of data collected from the Internet to identify patterns in language and construct a statistical knowledge of it. This allows chatbots to generate convincing-looking responses to queries.
However, this strategy has been greeted with hostility from various sources, including news publishers, authors (who claim the procedure violates copyright rules), and regulators.
This month, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it would not release an advanced version of its artificial intelligence model in the EU, citing regulators’ “unpredictable” behavior.
