Written by Ryan Patrick JonesTORONTO (Reuters) – The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has initiated an inquiry into X, the social media platform owned by tech magnate Elon Musk, to determine if its utilization of personal data from Canadians for training artificial intelligence (AI) models constitutes a violation of privacy regulations. This investigation was launched in response to a complaint received by the office, as stated in a release on Thursday.
The statement announced that the investigation will specifically assess the platform’s adherence to federal privacy laws concerning the acquisition, utilization, and disclosure of personal information from Canadians for the purpose of AI model training. No further details regarding the complaint’s specifics were disclosed by the office.
Brian Masse, a member of the opposition New Democratic Party, revealed that he had penned a letter to the privacy commissioner earlier this week urging an examination into X. In a statement, Masse expressed satisfaction with the privacy commissioner’s decision to investigate X’s handling of Canadian data, emphasizing the importance of transparency in an era where algorithms could potentially be manipulated to disseminate false information.
X has not yet responded to a request for comment from Reuters regarding the investigation.
This inquiry into X comes amid escalating tensions between Canada and the United States spanning trade, border security, and the imposition of a digital services tax on American tech companies. President Donald Trump, who has enlisted Musk to streamline the U.S. government, reaffirmed his intention earlier on Thursday to implement proposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico starting March 4 due to the continued influx of harmful narcotics into the U.S. from these nations.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla’s electric vehicle production and the founder of the artificial intelligence startup xAI, made headlines in 2022 with his acquisition of Twitter and subsequent rebranding as X. The social media platform introduced xAI’s Grok chatbot to users, an AI assistant designed to aid in various tasks such as answering queries, troubleshooting issues, and facilitating brainstorming sessions.
Recently, xAI introduced Grok-3, the newest version of its chatbot, which is now being rolled out to Premium+ subscribers on X. Generating AI models like Grok necessitate substantial amounts of data for training and advancement.
The privacy legislation in Canada outlines regulations governing how private organizations can gather, utilize, and disclose personal data in the course of business, as described by the privacy commissioner on its official website. These regulations include stipulations on consent, disclosure practices, data retention, and security measures.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jacqueline Wong)
