Elon Musk’s AI project, xAI, has been told to stop using data from European Union (EU) users. This comes after a legal challenge related to data privacy rules.
xAI uses public posts from X (formerly Twitter) to train its AI models. These models power Grok, an AI chatbot that gives real-time responses based on posts from X. With the new “Colossus” AI training system, xAI relies heavily on this data to improve its AI services.
What’s the problem?
In the EU, strict data privacy laws called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require companies to get clear permission from users before using their data for other purposes. EU officials were concerned that xAI wasn’t following these rules properly.
What did xAI Do?
Initially, xAI believed it was following the rules because it had existing permissions to use public data. However, due to legal challenges, xAI quietly added a new option for users to agree to let their data be used for AI training.
However, the situation worsened, and xAI decided to exclude all public posts from EU users while it figured out how to comply with the GDPR properly.
What’s the impact?
- Loss of data: Excluding EU users means xAI loses access to a large amount of data from around 100 million users, or 20% of X’s total user base. This data is valuable because it helps Grok give up-to-date information on European news and events.
- AI performance: Grok’s ability to provide current and relevant answers might be affected without this European data. Other AI chatbots might still have an edge since they use different sources of information.
- European insights: xAI will have less insight into European trends and updates, which could impact how well Grok serves users who want information about the EU.
What’s next?
xAI is likely working on a new way to get proper consent from EU users to comply with GDPR. This might involve updating how they ask for permission or finding other ways to gather useful data while respecting privacy laws.
Featured image credit: Eray Eliaçık/Bing
