Google's AI Model Under EU Lens Over Data Privacy Concerns

European Union regulators have launched a probe into one of the Google's artificial intelligence models (AI) known as Pathways Language Model 2 (PaLM2) over concerns about its compliance with the 27-nation bloc's strict data privacy rulebook -- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Google's European headquarters is based in Dublin. Hence, the Irish watchdog acts as the company's lead regulator.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission has held Google's operations under scanner to ensure compliance with the GDPR, laying a special focus on whether Google processes personal data in its AI model, Associated Press reported.

The commission said it is probing whether Google's PaLM2's data processing would likely result in a "high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals" in the EU. Large language models (LLMs) like PaLM2 are vast troves of data that powers generative AI services, including email summarizing.

The investigation dating back to 2023 also seeks to ensure whether Google conducted a necessary data protection impact assessment before handling sensitive information, as required by the GDPR framework when using new technologies to mitigate the impact on personal lives and data.

"A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), where required, is of crucial importance in ensuring that the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals are adequately considered and protected when processing of personal data is likely to result in a high risk," the Irish authority added, Euronews reported.

Google's probe follows a court case initiated by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which raised concerns that Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) was putting individuals' fundamental rights and freedoms at risk by processing EU/EEA user data to train its AI chatbot Grok.

Meta Platforms has put its plans on hold after apparent pressure from the Irish regulators over using content posted by European users to train the latest version of its LLM.

Last year, OpenAI's ChatGPT was banned by Italy's data privacy regulators over fear of data privacy breaches and demanded OpenAI meet a set of demands to resolve its concerns.