Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is closing in on a deal with Britain’s privacy watchdog to use millions of Britons’ Facebook and Instagram data to supercharge its artificial intelligence (AI) technology in a break with the EU.
In a decision likely to trigger a backlash from privacy advocates, the Information Commissioner’s Office is expected to approve plans from Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, to harvest billions of public posts and images from UK citizens.
The move would represent a divergence from Meta’s treatment in Brussels and comes amid mounting concern in Europe that the bloc’s byzantine technology regulations risk holding back growth and threatening domestic AI companies.
While Meta has already launched its AI bots in the US, it has delayed its plans for the UK and the EU amid concerns from regulators.
The technology giant, led by founder Mr Zuckerberg, has been in talks for months with the UK about accessing the information for the purpose of fine-tuning its AI chatbot technology.
Approving the move would represent a major break with EU policy by the UK.
AI software requires vast amounts of information – known as training data – to develop. Meta and others have been looking to find large new sources of data to build more powerful AI tools.
However, this rush has triggered concerns that consumers are not being made aware of how their personal information could be used and whether it is possible to opt out.
In June, Meta published a blogpost on its struggles with officials in Brussels, claiming that Europe was at a “crossroads” and adding: “Activists are advocating extreme approaches to data and AI.” On Thursday, Sir Nick Clegg, Facebook’s public affairs chief, told a meeting in London the EU’s rules were “perverse”.
He said: “The EU seems to, at the moment, be sort of moving towards the most perverse decision. If you want European AI, you inescapably have to train those models with EU data.
“It’s the same in the UK. If you want models, if you want AI avatars, chatbots who understand our language, our history, our landmarks, our very different English idioms compared to American, you have to trade it on UK data.”
He added that the UK could take a “more nimble” approach.
Currently, stopping your data being used by Meta for AI purposes involves a complex opt-out process including filling in a written form explaining your objections.
Meta has not yet started the process of harvesting UK information. It is in talks with the Information Commissioner’s Office over its plans. However, two sources told The Telegraph that Meta and the regulator were closing in on an agreement, which could be announced within days.
It was not clear what conditions the regulator would place on Meta to begin gathering British user data, which would probably include public posts and pictures from tens of millions of people. Meta has said it would not use private messages in its training data.
Three months ago, Meta paused its planned UK launch. Stephen Almond, an executive director at the Information Commissioner’s Office, said at the time that the technology giant would “review plans to use Facebook and Instagram user data to train generative AI”.
Privacy advocacy group the Open Rights Group has already launched a complaint to the data regulator over Meta’s efforts to use Britain’s data for its technology.
The Government is currently conducting a lightning-fast review of the use of AI technologies, led by Matt Clifford, a former adviser to Rishi Sunak and entrepreneur.
The “AI Opportunities Action Plan” comes despite Mr Sunak’s government hosting a summit last November that warned of the potential risks posed by the emerging technology.
Spokesmen for Meta and the ICO declined to comment.
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