Meta has finally launched its AI-powered virtual assistant, Meta AI, in the European Union, marking a significant milestone in the company's efforts to expand its AI capabilities across the region. The chatbot-like tool will be rolled out across Meta's portfolio of social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, although with a more limited feature set compared to its domestic U.S. market.

The EU launch of Meta AI comes amid an ongoing regulatory battle with European privacy authorities, who have raised concerns about the company's use of user data to train its AI models. In the EU, Meta has faced pushback over its plans to use user-generated content for AI training, citing the need for a valid legal basis to process people's information under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Last May, Meta began notifying regional users of an upcoming privacy policy change, which would allow the company to use content from comments, interactions, status updates, photos, and captions for AI training. However, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Meta's lead data protection regulator in the EU, raised concerns about the way Meta was soliciting consent from users to process their data. The DPC disagreed with Meta's approach, which relied on an onerous opt-out process and a GDPR legal basis known as "legitimate interests."

As a result, Meta was forced to rethink its approach and has confirmed that the version of Meta AI launching in the EU has not been trained on local users' data. The company claims that it will not be notifying users or seeking their consent, since the technology has not been trained on their information. According to Anna Dack, Meta's innovation communications manager, EMEA, "The model powering these Meta AI features wasn't trained on first-party data from users in the EU."

Despite the regulatory hurdles, Meta AI will be available in six European languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian. The tool will allow users to chat one-to-one with the assistant across Meta's various apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook. Users will be able to call on the assistant by typing "@MetaAI" and asking a question, such as where to go for dinner or the top tourist attraction in a given city.

The launch of Meta AI in the EU marks the company's "first step" in its efforts to bring more AI to Europe, with plans to eventually "find parity with the U.S." over time. However, this is likely to mean more tussles between Meta and EU regulators, who remain concerned about the company's use of user data for AI training.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has been examining Meta AI over recent months and will continue to review it as it rolls out to users over the coming weeks. In a statement, a DPC spokesperson said, "The DPC, as Lead Supervisory Authority for Meta, has been examining Meta AI over recent months with our colleague Supervisory Authorities across the EU/EEA and we will keep it under review as it rolls-out to users over the coming weeks."

Meta AI's launch in the EU is a significant development in the company's AI ambitions, but it also highlights the ongoing challenges of navigating complex regulatory landscapes. As the company continues to expand its AI capabilities, it will need to balance its ambitions with the need to protect user privacy and comply with EU regulations.