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    Google’s AI model faces European Union scrutiny from privacy watchdog

    By SHOOTNo Comments248 Views
    In this April 17, 2007 file photo, exhibitors work on laptop computers in front of an illuminated sign of the Google logo at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)

    By Kelvin Chan, Business Writer

    LONDON (AP) --

    European Union regulators said Thursday they’re looking into one of Google’s artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules.

    Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into Google’s Pathways Language Model 2, also known as PaLM2. It’s part of wider efforts, including by other national watchdogs across the 27-nation bloc, to scrutinize how AI systems handle personal data.

    Google’s European headquarters are based in Dublin, so the Irish watchdog acts as the company’s lead regulator for the bloc’s privacy rulebook, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

    The commission said its inquiry is examining whether Google has assessed whether PaLM2’s data processing would likely result in a “high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals” in the EU.

    Large language models like PaLM2 are vast troves of data that act as building blocks for artificial intelligence systems. Google uses PaLM2 to power a range of generative AI services including email summarizing. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

    The Irish watchdog said earlier this month that Elon Musk’s social media platform X has agreed to permanently stop processing user data for its AI chatbot Grok. The platform did so only after the watchdog took it to court the month before, filing an urgent High Court application to get X to “suspend, restrict or prohibit” processing of personal data contained in public posts by its users.

    Meta Platforms paused its plans to use content posted by European users to train the latest version of its large language model after apparent pressure from the Irish regulators. The decision “followed intensive engagement” between the two, the watchdog said in June.

    Italy’s data privacy regulator last year temporarily banned ChatGPT because of data privacy breaches and demanded the chatbot’s maker OpenAI meet a set of demands to resolve its concerns.

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    Tags:artificial intelligenceEuropean UnionGoogle



    EU accuses TikTok of “addictive design” that harms children, seeks changes to protect users

    Friday, February 6, 2026
    The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

    The European Union on Friday accused TikTok of breaching the bloc's digital rules with "addictive design" features that lead to compulsive use by children, in preliminary charges that strike at the heart of the popular video sharing app's operating model.

    EU regulators said their two-year investigation found that TikTok hasn't done enough to assess how features such as autoplay and infinite scroll could harm the physical and mental health of users, including minors and "vulnerable adults."

    The European Commission said it believes TikTok should change the "basic design" of its service. The commission is the EU's executive arm and enforcer of the 27-nation bloc's Digital Services Act, a sweeping rulebook that requires social media companies to clean up their platforms and protect users, under threat of hefty fines.

    TikTok denied the accusations.

    "The Commission's preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge these findings through every means available to us," the company said in a statement.

    TikTok's features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems "lead to the compulsive use of the app, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and wellbeing," Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing in Brussels.

    "The measures that TikTok has in place are simply not enough," he said.

    The company now has a chance to defend itself and reply to the commission's findings. Regnier said "if they don't do this properly," Brussels could issue a so-called non-compliance decision and possible fine worth up to 6% of... Read More

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