Meta Delays European Chatbot Launch Amid Regulatory Concerns

Meta Corporation has postponed the launch of its Meta AI chatbot in Europe following a directive from the Irish Data Protection Commission to halt plans for training large language models (LLM) using publicly available content.

On June 10, Facebook’s parent company announced the commencement of LLM Llama training using content shared by European users on Facebook and Instagram. On June 14, the company updated its announcement in response to the regulator’s demand.

“This is a setback for European innovation, AI development competition, and delays in delivering AI benefits to people in Europe. […] We are committed to bringing Meta AI and its underlying models to more people worldwide, including in Europe. However, without local information, we can only offer a second-rate experience. This means that, for now, we cannot launch Meta AI in Europe,” the company stated.

Meta has not abandoned its plans, but their implementation has been postponed indefinitely.

In April, the corporation announced the launch of the free AI assistant Meta AI on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.

In February 2023, Meta introduced the Llama language model.