X Halts AI Training with EU User Data Amid Legal Dispute

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has agreed to cease using personal data from users in the European Union to train its artificial intelligence (AI), in response to ongoing legal action. This decision follows concerns raised by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which sought to limit or suspend X’s processing of EU user data for AI development without proper consent.

Owned by Elon Musk, X allows users to decide whether their public posts can be used by the AI chatbot, Grok. However, users must actively opt out by unchecking a box in their privacy settings. Judge Leonie Reynolds pointed out that while X began using EU user data for AI training on May 7, the option to opt out wasn’t provided until July 16 and wasn’t immediately available to all users.

A lawyer representing X informed the court that the company would refrain from using data collected from EU users between May 7 and August 1, pending the resolution of the DPC’s suspension order. X’s legal team is expected to file opposition papers by September 4.

X’s Global Government Affairs account expressed the company’s stance on the issue in a post on Wednesday, calling the DPC’s order “unwarranted, overboard, and singling out X without any justification.”

The DPC’s actions align with similar regulatory measures taken against other major tech companies. In June, Meta Platforms halted plans to launch its Meta AI models in Europe after the DPC requested a delay. Similarly, Alphabet’s Google postponed and revised its Gemini AI chatbot earlier this year following discussions with the Irish regulator.