X is now facing a controversy regarding its Grok AI training, as about nine privacy complaints against the company have been filed in the European Union, saying that it used user data without consent. The Elon Musk-owned companyunder the social media network had reportedly been scraping user data from the platform without asking for approval,based on regional users.
It is now targeting the company as well as Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), the watchdog behind X's compliance with the GDPR.
Elon Musk, X Faces 9 EU Privacy Complaints for Grok AI Training
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A privacy rights nonprofit organization, noyb, has pushed for nine privacy complaints in the EU against Elon Musk's X Corp. for its alleged use of user data for training its renowned AI chatbot, Grok. It was revealed that this was allegedly illegal access to user data as they were not asked for permission regarding their information and activity to be shared with the AI.
It was also revealed by noyb that it is denouncing the Irish DPC for its "half-hearted actions" in enforcing the EU's General Data Protection Regulation or the GDPR.
The nine complaints were filed with specific authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.
This came after a user on X spotted how the social media had already begun "data sharing" with Grok, centering on information like interactions, inputs, and results for training the chatbot. It was revealed that X did not ask for any type of consent or permission from its users to use their data towards Grok's development.
It points out to X's Grok AI setting which users may opt out of, but it was turned on by default, and users who do not know any better, may not be able to navigate to this and turn it off.
Elon Musk and Grok AI's Controversies
It was only last year when xAI was introduced to the world, the dedicated artificial intelligence development group under Elon Musk's social media company, X. However, following its introduction of Grok, it was said to have been using OpenAI's code base, with the user that shared this claiming that Musk and X have "ripped" it off the renowned AI company.
Later on, an xAI employee said that it picked up ChatGPT's outputs from the large web data it used to train Grok but assured that it was not the code.
Additionally, during one of the crucial moments in the NBA Playoffs earlier this year, Grok AI hallucinated Klay Thompson's zero-for-10 performance, colloquially regarded as "shooting bricks," to a Sacramento vandalism news story.
Grok AI is far from being perfect, and it is now tasting the early controversies OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have faced, including the infamous alleged illegal AI training that it has done. Musk and X are now facing this privacy complaint in the EU, with the Irish DPC also embroiled in the issue with its watch over the platform, for the unconsented access to user data for Grok's development.
