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[ARTICLE · art-119746] src=news.ycombinator.com ↗ pub= topic=ai-policy verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Ask HN: A tool to share my data

A European citizen proposed on Hacker News a tool to let individuals collect and centralize personal data from US platforms like ChatGPT and share or sell it to European AI companies such as Mistral, citing existing data portability mechanisms under European regulation. The author suggests the tool could have viral adoption and help level the playing field for European AI firms, and asks whether it is technically and legally feasible and whether a marketplace or business model could exist.

read1 min views3 publishedSep 3, 2026

Hello HN, As a European citizen, I'd love a tool allowing me to easily collect and centralize data I've already shared with FAANG and other large US platforms, for the purpose of sharing (selling?) it to relevant European companies.

I know data portability is challenging, as most platforms are reluctant to make it easy to transfer data to competitors. But I don't expect full portability here: to my knowledge, most major platforms already provide basic export mechanisms, notably to comply with European regulation.

A typical use case: I'd like to collect the two years of conversations I already have in ChatGPT and make them available to Mistral. Other sources could be relevant as well: emails, chats, social media history, search history, etc.

The potential value for a company like Mistral seems significant (?). AI companies need large amounts of high-quality data, and collectively, European users are sitting on an enormous corpus of personal data currently concentrated within US platforms.

I would expect such a tool to have a viral component. Some users might contribute their data to European companies simply because they want to help level the playing field.

In a nutshell: could data existing data portability mechanism become a way for individuals to actively redistribute the data they generated for LLM training purpose?

Does this sound relevant? Technically and legally doable? Could there be a marketplace for this, or another viable business model?

Happy to get involved if anyone wants to build it ;)

Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545792](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545792)

Points: 1

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