PARIS: Meta will train its generative artificial intelligence (AI) models with its European users’ public content and conversations with the Meta AI chatbot, the firm said Monday.
The decision represents a major volte-face from the Facebook and Instagram owner, which has previously appeared wary of the European Union’s stringent regulations on the use of personal data.
People based in the EU who use Meta platforms can opt out of having their data used for training purposes, the social networking giant said.
The changes would not apply to the accounts of users under 18, nor to private messages of users to family and friends, the tech giant said on social media.
WhatsApp messenger will for the time being not be affected by the changes.
When Meta AI first launched in the EU, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users.
Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), AI and digital markets.
Developing “large language models” (LLMs) like Meta AI requires vast reserves of data, which is heavily regulated in the European Union where it relates to individual users.
AI is an overriding priority for Meta as for other Silicon Valley giants.
The group plans to invest $60-65 billion this year, with much of the cash going into data centers, servers and network infrastructure necessary to develop AI models.
Meta says to train AI models on public data of European users
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Meta says to train AI models on public data of European users
- WhatsApp messenger will for the time being not be affected by the changes
- People based in the EU who use Meta platforms can opt out of having their data used for training purposes
USA Today Co., owner of the Detroit Free Press, says it will purchase The Detroit News
LANSING, Michigan: USA Today Co., which owns the Detroit Free Press, said Monday that it plans to acquire The Detroit News and bring both major metropolitan newspapers under its banner.
The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press recently ended an almost 40-year agreement that allowed the two papers to operate in the same city and merge aspects of their business operations.
According to a statement from USA Today Co., the newspaper publisher formerly named Gannett, both newspapers will continue to publish separately. The company provided little other information on the planned operation of the daily newspapers.
The statement also did not disclose a price of the sale.
USA Today Co., which publishes the largest chain of newspapers in the US, said the sale is being funded through cash and financing managed by Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm that funded New Media Investment Group Inc.’s 2019 acquisition of Gannett.
The deal is expected to close “at the end of the month.”
The two newspapers have both been in operation for over 100 years. The Detroit News has won three Pulitzer Prizes and the Detroit Free Press has won 10.
“Both companies have a mutual desire to ensure that these publications and their distinct journalism continue to serve the greater Detroit area,” Guy Gilmore, chief operating officer of MediaNews Group, the current owner of The Detroit News said in a statement.
In 1989, the two papers began a joint operating agreement, a deal established under the 1970 Newspaper Preservation Act which allowed failing newspapers to be exempt from certain antitrust rules. The two newspapers worked in competition but shared some overhead resources and business operations including advertising, printing and distribution.
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News ended the agreement in December after 36 years.
In 2024, Gannett stopped using journalism produced by The Associated Press as financial struggles continued to mount on the news industry.
