Elon Musk's X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has agreed to temporarily halt the use of European users' data for training its Grok AI chatbot. This decision comes in response to increasing pressure from Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), which has raised concerns about the legality of processing personal data without explicit user consent.

The DPC, which is responsible for enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Ireland and across the European Union, issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging X's decision to suspend its data processing activities. The regulator expressed approval of the platform's move to pause AI training, highlighting its ongoing investigation into whether the processing aligns with GDPR requirements.

Earlier this week, the DPC initiated legal proceedings against X, seeking an injunction to prevent the company from continuing its data processing practices. The case has gained significant attention, with Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE, reporting that the matter may be escalated to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for further review.

DPC Commissioner Des Hogan commented on the situation, stating, "My colleague, Commissioner Dale Sunderland, and I welcome X’s decision to pause data processing while we, in collaboration with our EU/EEA regulatory counterparts, thoroughly examine the legality of the practice under GDPR. Our primary responsibility as an independent regulator is to safeguard the rights and freedoms of X users across the EU and EEA, and this development allows us to continue our mission."

The DPC has also raised questions about the potential deletion of any data that may have been unlawfully processed. Furthermore, the legality of AI models trained on such data remains a complex issue that privacy regulators are still grappling with.

The situation draws parallels with earlier concerns raised about OpenAI's ChatGPT, which also faced scrutiny from GDPR enforcers over the use of European citizens' data for training AI models. Despite the EDPB’s initial report on the matter, significant legal uncertainties persist, particularly regarding the deletion of AI models built on unlawfully obtained data.