EU: Meta to resume AI training with public user content
What's the story
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced its decision to resume artificial intelligence (AI) training using publicly available content from European users.
The move comes after a temporary halt last year over data privacy concerns raised by activists.
The company plans to use public posts and comments made by adult users across the 27-nation European Union for the purpose.
Assistant rollout
Meta AI assistant's launch and training plans
The announcement comes on the heels of last month's launch of Meta AI assistant for European users, a service that had previously been introduced in the US and other major markets.
However, stringent data privacy laws implemented by the EU had initially hindered its training efforts.
NOYB, an organization based in Vienna and led by activist Max Schrems, had raised concerns with the national privacy watchdog about Meta's AI training plans.
Privacy assurance
Meta's response to privacy concerns
In December, a panel of EU privacy regulators "affirmed" that Meta's original approach to AI training met legal obligations.
The company has assured that it will not use private messages for its AI model training.
This decision is in line with practices followed by competitors Google and OpenAI, both of which have used data from European users to train their own AI models.
User rights
User notification and objection process
Meta has also promised to notify EU users about this training process. The company will provide a link to a form where users can object anytime. "We'll honor all objection forms," said Meta, reiterating its commitment to user privacy and choice in AI training process.