Meta Ceases AI Utilization in Brazil Following Prohibition by Data Protection Authority
Meta has put on hold the employment of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in Brazil subsequent to the interim prohibition imposed by the country’s data protection authority due to objections to its recent privacy policy.
The initial disclosure was first brought to light by the news agency Reuters.
The corporation stated that it has chosen to suspend the tools during its discussions with Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) to tackle the concerns raised by the agency regarding its utilization of GenAI technology.
Previously in this month, ANPD abruptly stopped the enforcement of the social media giant’s new privacy policy, which had granted the organization access to users’ personal data for the training of its GenAI systems.
The ruling was based on “the imminent risk of severe and irreparable harm or difficult-to-restore harm to the fundamental rights of the impacted data subjects,” as stated by the agency.
Additionally, a daily fine of 50,000 reais (approximately $9,100 as of July 18) was established for cases of non-adherence. Last week, Meta was directed by ANPD to “demonstrate compliance with the decision” within five days.
Responding to this, Meta expressed its “disappointment” with ANPD’s resolution, arguing that this action represents “a regression in terms of innovation, competition in AI advancement, and further delays in bringing the advantages of AI to the Brazilian population.”
The utilization of personal data for the training of AI systems without explicit consent or knowledge has triggered privacy apprehensions, prompting tech giants based in the U.S. to pause the deployment of their tools in regions with stringent data privacy laws, such as the European Union.
A report by Human Rights Watch in June shed light on how the personal images of Brazilian minors were included in image caption datasets like LAION-5B, exposing them to potential exploitation and harm through the aid of harmful deepfakes.
Apple, which unveiled a new AI platform named Apple Intelligence last month, declared that it would not introduce these features in Europe this year due to prevailing regulatory concerns arising from the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
“We are apprehensive that the interoperability requisites of the DMA could compel us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that jeopardize user privacy and data security,” Apple was quoted as stating to The Wall Street Journal.
Meta has also subsequently confirmed to Axios that it will be withholding its upcoming multimodal AI models from customers in the region due to the “unpredictable regulatory landscape in Europe.”
About Author
