Irish watchdog welcomes suspension of processing X posts for AI training

Ireland’s data watchdog has welcomed social media site X’s decision to suspend processing its user posts to train an AI chatbot.

The regulator said the site, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, had agreed to suspend processing posts from May 7 to August 1 while the data rights implications are examined.

X, formerly known as Twitter, has it European headquarters in Dublin, making Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) its lead regulator in Europe.

The DPC had previously said it was surprised at X’s decision to use posts to train its AI tool, called “Grok”.

Users of X had expressed outrage after discovering the company had enabled a system where their posts could be used.

Grok, which is available to X Premium customers, is billed as a humorous enhanced search feature powered by a “state-of-the-art large language model” that was initially trained on publicly available sources.

The company now wants to use user interactions and posts to improve the service.

X users are opted in to the new system by default but can choose to opt out in settings on the web-based app.

The decision by X to suspend processing follows a High Court application brought by the DPC, where a judge indicated that the rights and freedoms of data subjects across the EU/EEA were at the core of the matter.

The DPC said the application was made to protect the rights and freedoms of X’s EU and EEA users and came after “extensive” engagement between the DPC and X.

Commissioner Dr Des Hogan said he and commissioner Dale Sunderland welcomed the decision by X to suspend processing while they examine its compliance with GDPR.

“One of our main roles as an independent regulator and rights-based organisation is to ensure the best outcome for data subjects and today’s developments will help us to continue protecting the rights and freedoms of X users across the EU and EEA,” Dr Hogan said.

“We will continue to engage with all data controllers to ensure the rights of our citizens under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the GDPR are upheld.”