Personal content in the hands of Meta's artificial intelligence
Meta, the company that owns Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Whatsapp, is updating the privacy conditions of its networks. Most of the time, these updates are to increase user security, to combat fake news and inappropriate content,... but on this occasion, Mark Zuckerberg's company has gone further with its artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, Meta announced that it was developing a generative artificial intelligence, but for this AI model to improve and train itself, it needs millions of data. And where will it get all this information from? From none other than all of its users.
All Facebook and Instagram users have been notified of changes to their privacy policy. From 26 June, Meta will take all the content on its networks (texts, photos, audios and comments) to feed its AI. This is a less-than-transparent update.
This controversial change has outraged millions of Facebook and Instagram users. But, what is more serious is the way they have communicated this change. Instead of using clear and concise warnings, what they have done is to send notifications that go completely unnoticed.
If you are an inexperienced network user, you may miss this notification and, due to lack of information, fail to act and thus leave all your publications in the hands of the AI. Without realizing these changes that directly affect your privacy, you will be giving carte blanche for your personal data to be used.
Through this communiqué we are informed that we can oppose the use of this personal data by filling in a form. But the way to access this form is very laborious and not very intuitive.
In the field of design and illustration, there has been more uproar with these changes because AI can take unique and personal work as a template to create new designs. For this reason, many of them have opted to leave these apps (especially Instagram) and look for other non-AI options.
Even though Whatsapp is part of this company, it is outside the scope of this Privacy Policy update, because it has separate terms and policies. In addition, Whatsapp messages are end-to-end encrypted, meaning that no one, not even the company itself, can access them.
Why does Meta need our data?
Artificial intelligences need data to learn in order to perform tasks accurately, efficiently and adaptively. These are some of the reasons why machine learning is crucial for AI:
- To be able to adapt to constant change and remain useful.
- To deliver personalized content, which means they can offer more and better targeting to advertisers.
- To optimize their performance and perform tasks efficiently and effectively.
- To be able to make decisions automatically.
- To improve their ability to communicate and understand.
According to Meta, the use of all users' personal information is legitimate to develop its artificial intelligence model, but many experts question this. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has reported Meta to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) for violating the privacy of Instagram and Facebook users.
In conclusion, users are at the mercy of large companies that want to profit from our personal information for commercial purposes. Worst of all, they do it so stealthily that most of us don't even notice.
At BCM Industrial Marketing we are very careful with our clients' personal information. It is our priority that this data is safe. If you feel unprotected against these abuses, contact us and we will help you.
