Facebook owner Meta to use EU users' data to train its AI systems...
Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, has announced its plans to utilize interactions between users and its artificial intelligence (AI), along with public posts and comments from adults on its platforms, to enhance the training of its AI models within the European Union.
This decision by Meta, made on April 14, follows the recent introduction of its AI technology in Europe in March. The rollout, which was initially scheduled for June 2024, was postponed due to regulatory concerns regarding data protection and privacy.
Challenges in Europe
Despite launching Meta AI in the United States back in 2023, the expansion into Europe encountered various obstacles due to the strict privacy and transparency regulations set by the European Union. Meta's announcement on April 14 outlined that EU users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram would receive notifications detailing the types of data being utilized by the company. Additionally, users would also be provided with a link to voice any objections regarding the use of their data for training purposes.
It is crucial to note that while Meta intends to leverage data such as user interactions and queries on Meta AI, private conversations and public content from accounts of users under the age of 18 will not be included in the training datasets.
Regulatory Responses
As of now, the European Commission has not issued a formal response to Meta's latest move. Last year, Meta opted to pause the launch of its AI models in Europe following a directive from Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), which instructed the company to postpone its data collection from social media posts.
Advocacy groups like NOYB also expressed their concerns, calling for national privacy regulators to intervene and prevent the utilization of social media content for such purposes. The Irish privacy regulator has also initiated investigations into other tech giants like X, owned by Elon Musk, and Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet.
X is currently under scrutiny for its handling of personal data from EU users to train its AI system, Grok. On the other hand, the DPC launched an investigation into Google in September to assess the adequacy of data protection measures for user data utilized in the development of its AI model.
