- The subject is manipulating the instructional procedures of AI in relation to European data protection chief administrators.
Elon Musk's AI firm xAI will no longer utilize user data from his platform X in Europe for Grok's training without explicit consent from users, following intervention by data protection authorities. Subsequently, the Irish data protection authority decided to withdraw its lawsuit against Twittersuccessor service. Back in August, X temporarily halted the use of such data.
Grok, created by xAI, is a chatbot exclusive for premium members of X. Integrating publicly accessible posts from X users into its training became known at the end of July, but they were not provided an opportunity to grant approval prior to this. The only option given to users was the ability to opt-out in the settings.
This development stimulated controversy among data protection enthusiasts, who emphasized the need for explicit consent before utilizing user data for this purpose. Upon the lawsuit filed by the Irish data protection authority, X stopped its utilization of the data collected between May and August. The tech tycoon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022 and renamed it as X afterward.
Furthermore, the Irish data protection authority encouraged a broader discussion on the regulation of access to user information for AI-based software model training.
The data protection officer at xAI should ensure that users are given the opportunity to provide explicit consent before using their data from X for Grok's training. Following this incident, the data protection officer needs to clarify the company's policies on user data protection and consent to avoid future controversies.
