The European launch of Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, has been postponed due to privacy concerns

According to a recent report from Politico, the launch of Google’s generative AI chatbot, Bard, in the European Union has been delayed due to privacy concerns. The chatbot was previously expanded to over 180 countries worldwide but did not include the EU.

Irish Data Protection Commission Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle noted that Google had been preparing to introduce Bard in the region, but this plan has been postponed for the time being.

We said in May that we wanted to make Bard more widely available, including in the European Union, and that we would do so responsibly, after engagement with experts, regulators, and policymakers., a Google spokesperson said, as reported by Politico.

The Commission has stated that Google did not furnish sufficient information concerning the measures it would undertake to safeguard the privacy of EU citizens. This lack of transparency has reportedly caused a delay in the launch of Google’s Bard in the region. The Irish regulator is conducting an ongoing examination of Bard and has announced that the launch will no longer happen this week.

The regulatory body in Ireland has sought clarification from the company on its adherence to the EU’s data protection regulations and is currently awaiting a comprehensive assessment and response.

In a similar vein, OpenAI’s ChatGPT also faced challenges in the EU, causing the CEO to consider withdrawing the product. Additionally, Microsoft’s Bing AI, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, is accessible in Europe, but the EU is examining ChatGPT and other AI products through a dedicated task force.

In March, Google Bard attracted criticism due to claims that it was trained using users’ data from Gmail, posing potential privacy risks. The chatbot was developed to compete with the rising popularity of ChatGPT and Bing Chat and offers similar features. However, since Artificial Intelligence relies on data sets, there are some major privacy concerns surrounding its use.

Via Verge