On Wednesday 4 September, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which acts on behalf of the European Union, announced that the social network X had made a definitive commitment to stop using the data of its European users for its artificial intelligence (AI) model. The project was put on hold last August, following widespread criticism regarding privacy issues and legal action taken by the DPC.
The platform is the third to halt the development of its AI model in the EU and the second to do so after being accused of breaching the personal data regulation (see EUROPE 13439/17). Meta announced it was suspending the development of its own AI model in June (see EUROPE 13433/12).
The DPC also states that it has sent a request for an opinion to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) in order to “trigger discussion and facilitate agreement, at EDPB level, on some of the core issues that arise in the context of processing for the purpose of developing and training an AI model, thereby bringing some much needed clarity into this complex area”. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)