Ireland's Data Regulator Launches Investigation into X's Use of EU User Data for AI Training

Ireland's data regulator investigates X's use of European user data to train Grok | TechCrunch

Ireland's data regulator, the Data Protection Commission (DPC), said Friday that it has opened an investigation into Elon Musk's X over the social media platform's use of personal data collected from European users to train Grok. The DPC will investigate how X processes personal data "comprised" in publicly accessible posts by European users for the purposes of training generative AI models, according to a Reuters report. The powerful Irish privacy regulator has issued fines to Microsoft, TikTok, and Meta in the past. Its fines to Meta total almost 3 billion euros (roughly $3.38 billion) X quietly opted in users to sharing data with xAI, Musk's AI company, to train its AI chatbot Grok, in 2024. Last month, Musk announced that xAI had acquired X. Ireland's data regulator can impose fines of up to 4% of a company's global revenue under the EU's GDPR rules, which require that companies have a valid legal basis for processing people's data. The agency's latest inquiry comes after it sought a court order last year to restrict X from processing European user data for AI training.

Ireland demands look at Grok to check for GDPR violations

Watchdog wants to know whether EU posts were used without consent under GDPR Elon Musk's social media outfit X is again under the regulatory microscope in Europe - this time for allegedly using EU users' public posts to train its Grok AI chatbot, possibly without the transparency or legal basis required under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced Friday that it had kicked off an inquiry into X Internet Unlimited Company (XIUC) - the newly renamed Irish entity responsible for Elon Musk's social media platform. The investigation seeks to determine whether XIUC's processing of publicly accessible posts from EU users to train its Grok AI models complies with the GDPR. Notably, XIUC became the official data controller for EU users on April 1, following a rebranding from Twitter International Unlimited Company (TIUC), as part of the transition from Twitter to X. Like many social media platforms exploring AI, X utilizes user-generated content to train machine learning models. Specifically, X shares publicly accessible data - including posts, profiles, and user interactions - with xAI to develop and refine Grok, the chatbot now embedded in the platform. This practice has raised privacy concerns, as users were initially opted in by default, leading to scrutiny over compliance with data protection regulations. The tie-up between X and xAI became even closer in March, when xAI acquired the social media platform in an all-stock deal valued at $33 billion. This merger puts both the data and the AI engine under the same Musk-controlled roof. "This inquiry considers a range of issues concerning the use of a subset of this data which was controlled by XIUC - namely personal data comprised in publicly accessible posts posted on the 'X' social media platform by EU/EEA users," The DPC said. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs." Companies in control of LLMs have regularly come under scrutiny from EU regulators and member states over their data processing practices. OpenAI, for example, has faced GDPR complaints alleging that ChatGPT provides inaccurate information about individuals and lacks a way to correct it, potentially violating the right to rectification. Meanwhile, the EU has become the first jurisdiction to pass comprehensive AI legislation: the Artificial Intelligence Act. X isn't any stranger to EU investigations either, with Musk's personal social media platform becoming one of the first companies to face formal proceedings under the EU's Digital Services Act. The European Commission launched an inquiry in late 2023 over concerns that X may have been falling short on obligations around risk management, content moderation, and algorithmic transparency -- requirements it must meet as a designated Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the DSA, due to its significant reach and influence. The investigation into X comes against a backdrop of rising transatlantic trade tensions. The Trump administration's fluctuating tariff policies have introduced significant uncertainty into global trade. In response, the EU has floated potential countermeasures targeting US companies, should trade negotiations break down. While the timing of the DPC's probe into X overlaps with these developments, there's no indication the two are directly connected. The DPC hasn't responded to our questions about the timing or scope of the investigation. We've also reached out to X to get its take, but haven't heard back. ®

Irish regulator investigates X over use of EU personal data to train Grok AI

DUBLIN, April 11 (Reuters) - Ireland's data regulator on Friday said it had opened an investigation into social media platform X over the use of personal data collected from European Union users to train its AI system Grok. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the lead EU regulator for X due to the location of its EU operations in the country. It has the power to impose fines of up to 4% of a company's global revenue under the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The inquiry will look at "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the X social media platform by EU/EEA users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models," the DPC said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have criticised EU regulation of U.S. companies and described fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by the EU as a form of taxation. X owner Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a top adviser to Trump, has also railed against EU regulations, mainly those imposed directly by Brussels on online content. The decision follows a court case last year in which the Irish regulator sought an order to restrict X from processing the data of EU users for the purposes of developing its AI systems. X agreed to stop training its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent. The Irish regulator ended its court proceedings weeks later, saying X had agreed the limits on a permanent basis. The powerful Irish privacy regulator has fined the likes of Microsoft's (MSFT.O), opens new tab LinkedIn, TikTok and Meta (META.O), opens new tab since it was given sanctioning powers in 2018. Its fines to date of Meta total almost 3 billion euros. X, or Twitter as it was then called, has not faced sanctions since the DPC fined it 450,000 euros ($511,000) in 2020, the first penalty the regulator handed out under the new data privacy system. ($1 = 0.8808 euros) Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catarina Demony Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Boards, Policy & Regulation

Irish privacy watchdog investigates Elon Musk's X's use of personal data to train Grok AI chatbot

LONDON (AP) -- Ireland's data privacy watchdog said Friday it's investigating Elon Musk's social media platform X over its use of personal data to train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. The Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts" that European users posted on X. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs" under the bloc's data privacy law, the commission said in a statement posted online. An LLM, or a large language model, is a vast pool of text including articles, blog posts, essays and other material scraped from online sources that is used to teach the algorithms underpinning generative AI systems. Under the 27-nation EU's stringent data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the Irish watchdog acts as the lead regulator for X because its European headquarters is based in Dublin. The watchdog has the power to impose penalties of up to 20 million euros or 4% of a company's total annual revenue for severe violations.

Ireland's privacy regulator is investigating X's use of public data to train Grok

The country is handling EU rules enforcement because the company has headquarters in Dublin. Ireland's data privacy regulator is investigating Elon Musk's X. The country's Data Protection Commission (DPC) said on Friday (via Reuters) that it's opening an inquiry into the social platform's use of European users' public posts to train its Grok AI chatbot. In this case, Ireland handles EU regulation enforcement because X's European headquarters are in Dublin. The DPC said it will probe "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the 'X' social media platform by EU/EEA users." Under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, Ireland has the legal muscle to fine X up to four percent of its global revenue. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs," Ireland's DPC said. If this sounds familiar, the DPC took X to court in 2024, seeking an order to stop it from training Grok on EU user data without consent. That followed a platform policy change in July that let the social site use public posts to train its AI chatbot. However, Ireland's data regulator ended the legal proceedings weeks later, saying the company had agreed to permanently limit its use of EU users' personal data in Grok. The DPC hasn't specified why it now believes the company may be violating GDPR rules. The DPC's last fine against the company (then known as Twitter) was a €450,000 penalty in 2020 for failing to notify the regulator about a data breach within the 72-hour window.

Grok AI is under investigation in the EU over potential GDPR violations - here's what you need to know

Last September, X agreed to limit the use of Europeans' data for AI training after being hit by several GDPR complaints The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched a privacy inquiry against X over the use of Europeans' personal data to train its AI model, Grok. Beginning on Friday, April 11, 2025, the privacy Authority is investigating whether Elon Musk's platform uses publicly-accessible X posts to train its generative AI models to determine compliance with GDPR rules. X was hit by at least nine privacy complaints in August 2024 for allegedly using people's data without consent to train AI. In September, Ireland's data regulator decided to end the court proceedings as the company agreed to permanently limit the use of EU users' data for AI training. Grok, a group of AI models developed by xAI, powers the generative AI chatbot on X. Users can chat with Grok directly in its dedicated tab or ask for AI-generated context underneath other users' posts. Since December 2024, Grok has also been able to automatically write small biographies of whoever has an account on X without users asking for it. It isn't yet clear, however, whether the system has processed some personal data contained in publicly accessible posts without people's consent, and this is exactly what the Irish DPC wants to find out. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs," wrote the DPC in an official announcement. If found in breach of GDPR rules, X Internet Unlimited Company - the new name of X's data controller for US users based in Dublin - could be fined a maximum of 4% of its annual turnover. Neither X nor Musk himself has yet commented on the DPC's announcement. Only Grok itself, after being challenged by one X user, has ensured that it "won't access your post unless you explicitly mention me." The billionaire, however, has previously criticized EU laws and regulators. So, the results of this probe could end up further deteriorating the relationship. Tension between the EU tech sector and the EU lawmakers could also intensify, though. As Proton (the provider of one of the best VPN and secure email services on the market) pointed out in a X post: "If it is found that public data still requires user consent to be used for training, this could have wider ramifications, both in Europe and beyond."

X's AI platform under scrutiny for data use

The Irish privacy watchdog questioned the use of personal data by Grok last year. The Irish data protection authority (DPC) is probing how Grok, the AI application of Elon Musk-owned tech platform X, uses personal data to train its model. Last year, the DPC filed court proceedings against the social media company for violating privacy rights when the platform quietly changed its data settings to automatically opt in to training its new AI model, which competes with OpenAI's Chat GPT and Google's Gemini. X then vowed to stop the data processing, after which it became available in the EU. However, the DPC appears not to be satisfied with the changes. It said in a statement, made public late on Friday that "the Inquiry will examine compliance with a range of key provisions of the GDPR, including with regard to the lawfulness and transparency of the processing." Earlier this month, Euronews reported that the Irish watchdog is also in discussions with Meta-owned messaging app Whatsapp over the introduction of the AI feature MetaAI. Several tech platforms, including Google, Meta and X have rolled-out AI features in Europe in recent weeks, claiming that the introduction in the EU took longer due to regulatory difficulties. If found guilty of a GDPR-breach, X could face a fine of up to 20 million euros, or up to 4 % of its total global turnover, whichever is higher.

Irish DPC investigating how X trains LLMs

The watchdog is looking into the processing of personal data by X. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has launched an inquiry into how social media platform X is using personal data pulled from public posts across the EU and EEA, in order to educate its AI models, in particular the Grok large language model (LLM). Grok is a generative AI bot created by Elon Musk via his company xAI and was designed, in part, to advance conversations on X. However, it was raised early on that the vast amounts of data available on X and the often controversial subject matter could result in a chatbot that was exposed to harmful and incorrect information. The DPC's inquiry will examine whether X and the xAI platform have complied with GDPR regulations. Specifically, it will determine if personal data publicly posted, was lawfully or unlawfully processed in order to train Grok LLMs. The investigation will be overseen by commissioners for data protection, Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland and representatives at XIUC (X Internet Unlimited Company) were notified. This isn't the first time that issues have arisen with how X trains its LLMs. In July of 2024 Matthew Hodgson, CEO and co-founder of UK-based encrypted messaging platform Element, stated that Musk and X were overstepping the boundaries of digital ownership by making the use of public posts, interactions and conversations for further model education, a default, shared step. Rival social media platform Meta has faced similar issues with the Irish watchdog, however, earlier this year it was announced that AI chatbot, Meta AI would launch in Europe, despite a paused roll-out stemming from "intensive discussions" with the DPC. Like X, Meta planned to train its LLMs using content pulled from materials shared on Facebook and Instagram. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Irish privacy watchdog investigates Elon Musk's X's use of personal data to train Grok AI chatbot

LONDON (AP) -- Ireland's data privacy watchdog said Friday it's investigating Elon Musk's social media platform X over its use of personal data to train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. The Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts" that European users posted on X. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs" under the bloc's data privacy law, the commission said in a statement posted online. An LLM, or a large language model, is a vast pool of text including articles, blog posts, essays and other material scraped from online sources that is used to teach the algorithms underpinning generative AI systems. Under the 27-nation EU's stringent data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the Irish watchdog acts as the lead regulator for X because its European headquarters is based in Dublin. The watchdog has the power to impose penalties of up to 20 million euros or 4% of a company's total annual revenue for severe violations.

Irish Regulator Investigates X Over Use of EU Personal Data to Train Grok AI

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's data regulator on Friday said it had opened an investigation into social media platform X over the use of personal data collected from European Union users to train its AI system Grok. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the lead EU regulator for X due to the location of its EU operations in the country. It has the power to impose fines of up to 4% of a company's global revenue under the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The inquiry will look at "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the X social media platform by EU/EEA users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models," the DPC said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have criticised EU regulation of U.S. companies and described fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by the EU as a form of taxation. X owner Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a top adviser to Trump, has also railed against EU regulations, mainly those imposed directly by Brussels on online content. The decision follows a court case last year in which the Irish regulator sought an order to restrict X from processing the data of EU users for the purposes of developing its AI systems. X agreed to stop training its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent. The Irish regulator ended its court proceedings weeks later, saying X had agreed the limits on a permanent basis. The powerful Irish privacy regulator has fined the likes of Microsoft's LinkedIn, TikTok and Meta since it was given sanctioning powers in 2018. Its fines to date of Meta total almost 3 billion euros. X, or Twitter as it was then called, has not faced sanctions since the DPC fined it 450,000 euros ($511,000) in 2020, the first penalty the regulator handed out under the new data privacy system. ($1 = 0.8808 euros) (Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catarina Demony)

Irish Privacy Watchdog Investigates Elon Musk's X's Use of Personal Data to Train Grok AI Chatbot

LONDON (AP) -- Ireland's data privacy watchdog said Friday it's investigating Elon Musk's social media platform X over its use of personal data to train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. The Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts" that European users posted on X. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs" under the bloc's data privacy law, the commission said in a statement posted online. An LLM, or a large language model, is a vast pool of text including articles, blog posts, essays and other material scraped from online sources that is used to teach the algorithms underpinning generative AI systems. Under the 27-nation EU's stringent data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the Irish watchdog acts as the lead regulator for X because its European headquarters is based in Dublin. The watchdog has the power to impose penalties of up to 20 million euros or 4% of a company's total annual revenue for severe violations. X did not respond to an email request for comment. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Irish regulator investigates X over use of EU personal data to train Grok AI

U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have criticised EU regulation of U.S. companies and described fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by the EU as a form of taxation. X agreed to stop training its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent.Ireland's data regulator on Friday said it had opened an investigation into social media platform X over the use of personal data collected from European Union users to train its AI system Grok. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the lead EU regulator for X due to the location of its EU operations in the country. It has the power to impose fines of up to 4% of a company's global revenue under the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The inquiry will look at "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the X social media platform by EU/EEA users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models," the DPC said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have criticised EU regulation of U.S. companies and described fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by the EU as a form of taxation. X owner Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a top adviser to Trump, has also railed against EU regulations, mainly those imposed directly by Brussels on online content. The decision follows a court case last year in which the Irish regulator sought an order to restrict X from processing the data of EU users for the purposes of developing its AI systems. X agreed to stop training its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent. The Irish regulator ended its court proceedings weeks later, saying X had agreed the limits on a permanent basis. The powerful Irish privacy regulator has fined the likes of Microsoft's LinkedIn, TikTok and Meta since it was given sanctioning powers in 2018. Its fines to date of Meta total almost 3 billion euros. X, or Twitter as it was then called, has not faced sanctions since the DPC fined it 450,000 euros ($511,000) in 2020, the first penalty the regulator handed out under the new data privacy system.

Irish Data Regulator Probes X For Using EU Users' Data For Grok

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland announced on April 11 the start of its inquiry into X Internet Unlimited Company (XIUC), the Irish division of X (formerly Twitter), for allegedly processing the personal data of European Union (EU) users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) model Grok. The inquiry will examine compliance with a range of key provisions of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including lawfulness and transparency of the processing. The Irish regulator has accused X of using publicly accessible data of EU users to train its "generative AI models". It said that X scraped the data from the posts of these users to particularly train its Grok Large Language Models (LLMs). The data protection watchdog said that it will examine if X has complied with a range of key provisions of the EU's GDPR, like lawfulness and transparency related to data processing. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs," the Irish data regulator remarked. Article 5 of the GDPR lists out key principles of the data protection regime in the EU. "These key principles are set out right at the beginning of the GDPR and they both directly and indirectly influence the other rules and obligations found throughout the legislation," the DPC website said. The companies should be transparent to the individuals whose data is being collected, used, consulted, or "otherwise processed". According to the DPC: "Any processing of personal data should be lawful and fair." The transparency principle requires companies to make "any information and communication" relating to a user's personal data easily accessible, and easy to understand in clear and plain language. According to the Irish data protection watchdog, companies should only collect personal data for "specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes" and not further process in a manner that is "incompatible with those purposes." In this context, Max Schrems, founder of NOYB, a non-profit that fights litigation battles for digital and consumer rights, while speaking at CPDP LatAm, talked about how Meta AI remarked that AI itself is the purpose for data collection. While talking about this, he said, "They said that AI is basically the purpose. It's like the purpose of processing the data is computers. It names a technology as the purpose. That's how they try to get around it, but that's not really how the law would look at that." Article 4(1) of the GDPR defines the term personal data as "any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person." This includes information such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or one of several special characteristics, which expresses the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, commercial, cultural or social identity of natural persons. Schrems, while speaking at CPDP LatAm, remarked that technology companies often combine personal and non-personal data, which makes it difficult to separate one from the other. These companies use this to bypass the EU's GDPR by saying that they did not use the data. "In practice, we know," Schrems said, "that usually that data is so connected in their systems that it's almost impossible to separate. So a lot of this, like how do we get clean data that we can actually use legally, is one of the things where we couldn't really get satisfactory answers to so far," Schrems said. Notably, this is not the first time the Irish data protection regulator has flagged its concerns regarding X's data collection practices for training its AI models. In August 2024, the DPC took X to court over its default setting that allowed the social media platform to utilise a user's posts for training Grok. This change in X's settings was allegedly never notified, although an opt-out option was available on the platform. This default consent feature violated the provisions of the GDPR. In this context, Schrems said that Google and OpenAI have also gone for opt-out instead of getting users' consent. Google and OpenAI even asked for reasons from users for not letting them collect data for processing. A user could fill out the form and get instant approval, as nobody ever reads them. "It's just to make it as complicated as possible for people to really have their data not in the system," he added. The Irish data protection watchdog has been making headlines for its stringent actions against tech giants. In January 2023, the DPC fined Meta for illegally using user data for targeted advertisements. The regulator had imposed a fine of 390 million euros on the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company for this malpractice. The watchdog also asked Meta to legalise its ad-serving practices as per EU's GDPR within three months. In September 2022, the regulator decided to levy a fine of 405 million euros on Meta for failing to protect children's rights while processing their data on Instagram. DPC's research in the matter found that Instagram set the newly registered accounts to "public" by default. A user needed to manually change the account settings to "private". Children were also able to switch from a personal account to a business account after mandatorily showing an email address or a phone number associated with a business. Even earlier, in September 2021 the Irish data protection watchdog levied a fine of 225 million euros on Meta. The DPC alleged that WhatsApp had not told EU citizens enough about how it collects and utilises a user's data. The Irish regulator instead wanted the internet-based messaging service to disclose a greater level of detail in its privacy policy.

Irish watchdog to probe Musk's X over data use for AI tool Grok

Ireland's data watchdog has launched an inquiry into Elon Musk's social media platform X over the processing of European users' posts for the purpose of training its AI model, Grok. The probe will examine compliance with a range of key provisions of data rules, including the lawfulness of the processing, a statement from the Data Protection Commission said on Friday. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The inquiry will likely add to tensions between the European Union and the US over the bloc's regulations of technology companies. The EU's AI Act, which include various rules and requirements on regulating the tech went into effect last year, to the dismay of many tech bosses. Musk has been at odds with the Irish DPC before, which had already previously compelled his platform to stop harvesting data from European users for Grok. Following that original notification, X agreed to temporarily suspend the use of the data to train Grok. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok large language models," the DPC said in the statement.

Irish Data watchdog to investigate X's Grok AI tool | BreakingNews.ie

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has begun an investigation into the Grok artificial intelligence model on the X social media platform. The inquiry will examine the processing of personal data in publicly accessible posts on X by EU users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models, in particular the Grok Large Language Models (LLMs). A DPC statement said: "The inquiry will examine compliance with a range of key provisions of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), including about the lawfulness and transparency of the processing." Grok is the name of a group of AI models developed by xAI. These models are used to power a generative AI querying tool, which is available on the X platform, owned by Elon Musk. The DPC said: "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs."

Irish regulator investigates X over use of EU personal data to train Grok AI

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's data regulator on Friday said it had opened an investigation into social media platform X over the use of personal data collected from European Union users to train its AI system Grok. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the lead EU regulator for X due to the location of its EU operations in the country. It has the power to impose fines of up to 4% of a company's global revenue under the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The inquiry will look at "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the X social media platform by EU/EEA users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models," the DPC said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have criticised EU regulation of U.S. companies and described fines imposed on U.S. tech companies by the EU as a form of taxation. X owner Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a top adviser to Trump, has also railed against EU regulations, mainly those imposed directly by Brussels on online content. The decision follows a court case last year in which the Irish regulator sought an order to restrict X from processing the data of EU users for the purposes of developing its AI systems. X agreed to stop training its AI systems using personal data collected from EU users before they had the option to withdraw their consent. The Irish regulator ended its court proceedings weeks later, saying X had agreed the limits on a permanent basis. The powerful Irish privacy regulator has fined the likes of Microsoft's LinkedIn, TikTok and Meta since it was given sanctioning powers in 2018. Its fines to date of Meta total almost 3 billion euros. X, or Twitter as it was then called, has not faced sanctions since the DPC fined it 450,000 euros ($511,000) in 2020, the first penalty the regulator handed out under the new data privacy system. (Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catarina Demony)

EU to probe use of personal data by X's AI chatbot - VnExpress International

The probe relates to the "processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the 'X' social media platform" by EU users, said the Data Protection Commission (DPC). "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs (Large Language Models)," said the DPC statement. Grok is the name of a group of LLMs -- or generative artificial intelligence models -- developed by Musk, which can be accessed on his social media platform X. Last year, after X began using personal data in public posts made by European users, Ireland's DPC launched a court case arguing that this violated users' data privacy rights. As X has its European headquarters in Ireland, the country's data protection commission is the lead regulator in Europe for the social platform. Last August, X said it would work with the DPC after agreeing to suspend its use of the data, prompting the DPC to drop its case. The social media platform has continued to develop new AI models since then. The Irish authority said Friday it would probe "compliance with a range of key provisions" of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including whether data has been processed with "lawfulness and transparency".

Irish privacy watchdog investigates X over use of personal data to train Grok AI chatbot

LONDON (AP) -- Ireland's data privacy watchdog said Friday it's investigating Elon Musk's social media platform X over its use of personal data to train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. The Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into "the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts" that European users posted on X. "The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs" under the bloc's data privacy law, the commission said in a statement posted online. An LLM, or a large language model, is a vast pool of text including articles, blog posts, essays and other material scraped from online sources that is used to teach the algorithms underpinning generative AI systems. Under the 27-nation EU's stringent data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the Irish watchdog acts as the lead regulator for X because its European headquarters is based in Dublin.