X agrees to pause AI training with EU user data amid legal dispute

Social media platform X, earlier known as Twitter, agreed Thursday to stop using the personal data of users in the European Union for training its artificial intelligence to settle ongoing legal action.

The move is in reaction to concerns by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which asked this week for an order to suspend or limit X processing EU user data for the development of its AI without proper consent.

X belongs to Elon Musk and allows users to choose whether their public posts can be used by the AI chatbot, Grok.

Users have to actively opt out by unticking a box in their privacy settings. However, Judge Leonie Reynolds observed that although X began training its AI models using the data of users from the European Union starting on May 7, it did not grant users an option to opt-out until July 16.

An option-out function was also not made available to all users instantly.

A lawyer for X told the court it would not use data collected from EU users from May 7 through Aug. 1, pending the resolution of the DPC's suspension order.

Opposition papers by the legal team for X are due by Sept. 4.
In a Wednesday post, X's Global Government Affairs account called the regulator's order "unwarranted, overboard, and singles out X without any justification," showing its stand on the matter.

The move by the DPC is in line with similar regulatory actions against other tech giants.

In June, Meta Platforms abandoned a plan to introduce its Meta AI models in Europe after the DPC told the company to delay the launch.
Alphabet's Google delayed and revised its Gemini AI chatbot this year after consulting the Irish regulator.