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Is Meta Using Your Data to Train Its AI?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Meta recently revealed it is using public data on its platforms to train its AI, something that is making some users uncomfortable. Thankfully, there are ways to stop the tech giant from using your data.
Meta’s use of its platform’s data was revealed due to laws in the EU that require companies to disclose where they parse data and allow users to opt out of data collection. While these same protections don’t exist for U.S. users, Meta has signaled that it only takes data from public accounts. Thus, users can protect their data by making their accounts private.
While this change will protect your data, it isn’t a perfect fix, as changing an account to private only allows approved accounts to see your posts. While American users want an easier way to opt out of data collection, Meta likely won’t introduce this feature unless federally mandated.
“Across the internet, public information is being used to train AI. This is not unique to our services. We’re committed to building AI responsibly and believe it’s important that people understand how we train the models that power our generative AI product,” a Meta spokesperson told Fox News.
While training AI using publicly available data is the current industry standard, the practice has come under fire in recent years as multiple lawsuits have been filed over training of AI without consent. While the tech companies have won these lawsuits, it is clear that millions of people believe they should be notified when their data is being used to train AI – and perhaps be compensated for it.
While new laws addressing this problem have yet to be introduced, this could become a major issue as AI faces increased federal regulation.
Movieguide® previously reported:
President Joe Biden issued a landmark executive order aimed at AI to help promote the safe development of the technology and keep the government informed on the risks it poses to the American people.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed called the executive order the strongest action “any government in the world has ever taken on AI safety, security, and trust. It’s the next step in an aggressive strategy to do everything on all fronts to harness the benefits of AI and mitigate the risks.”
The executive order outlines safeguards to protect against widespread AI-generated deepfakes, monitor the technology’s ability to impact critical infrastructure, shield workers from job displacement and guide the sustainable development of the technology.
Among the government’s top concerns about the technology is the creation of widespread deepfakes to spread misinformation. To address this, the order directs the Department of Commerce to create standards for authenticating and distributing government statements.
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