European Parliament blocks AI on lawmakers’ devices, citing security risks
The European Parliament has reportedly stopped lawmakers from using the built-in AI tools on their work devices, citing cybersecurity and privacy risks of uploading confidential correspondence to the cloud.
By email seen by PoliticoParliament’s IT department said it cannot guarantee the security of data uploaded to AI companies’ servers and that the full extent of information shared with AI companies is “still under assessment.”
Therefore, the email said: “It is considered safer to keep such features disabled.”
For example, uploading data to AI chatbots such as Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT means that US authorities could require the companies running the chatbots to hand over information about their users.
AI chatbots also typically rely on using information that users provide or upload to improve their models, increasing the chance that potentially sensitive information uploaded by one person can be shared and seen by other users.
Europe has some of the strictest data protection rules in the world. But the European Commission, the executive body that oversees the 27-member state bloc, made a decision last year new legislative proposals submitted aimed at relaxing data protection rules to make it easier for tech giants to train their AI models on Europeans’ data, angering critics who say the move comes at the expense of US tech giants.
The move to restrict European lawmakers’ access to AI products on their devices comes as several EU member states are reevaluating their relationships with US tech giants, which remain subject to US law and the unpredictable whims and demands of the Trump administration.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent hundreds of subpoenas demanding that U.S. tech and social media giants turn over information about people, including Americans, who have been publicly critical of the Trump administration’s policies.
Google, Meta and Reddit complied in several cases, even though the subpoenas were not issued by a judge and not enforced in a court.
