People have been posting statements on social media prohibiting Meta from using their data to train AI, and even celebrities like Tom Brady and Cat Power have joined the “Goodbye Meta AI” movement. There is. But people have real concerns about AI. Meta should listen.
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Celebrities such as Tom Brady, Cat Power, and James McAvoy have also posted copies of “Goodbye Meta AI” that are being spread on Instagram Stories, but will Meta actually use people’s data to train its AI? Can it be prevented from being used?
No, says Mehta. Statements are not legally binding. (They’re a bunch of drivel full of barely legal language that should be obvious to celebrities who would have seen and signed various contracts during their lifetimes. But that’s just my two cents!)
A copy and paste of “Goodbye Meta AI” circulating on Instagram. Mehta says nothing changes. Instagram
Still, just because this goofy “copypasta” is clearly irrelevant to Meta’s position with its users, doesn’t mean Meta shouldn’t take it seriously.
People are sharing this information because they care about AI and what it means for them. They think something invasive is being done against them, taking their content away without their permission.
And this is not a paranoid delusion. It’s actually happening! In fact, Meta uses public Facebook posts and photos dating back to 2007 to train its AI models. There is also no opt-out other than setting your post to private (except in the EU where it is required by regulation).
You might recognize this copy-paste that’s been circulating on Instagram. A version of something like this pops up on Facebook every few years. There is some copy-pasted text that purports to be harmless to the user who posted it against the over-the-top technocrats running the place.
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Business Insider debunked these types of posts twice in 2015, and Facebook’s PR department also did so in 2012. And when these types of posts spike again in 2016 and 2019, you can find news reports that undermine the credibility of these types of posts.
Yes, these are all stupid, poorly written and clearly not legal documents. But they’ve always talked about the power imbalance that some users feel on Facebook and Instagram. We love using these products, and we love using them for free, but it feels like it’s being exploited in some way. Fair evaluation.
Facebook has a large and serious problem with user privacy. No wonder some users are skeptical about this. The fact that people are willing to fall for these copy pastes is not a sign that they are loose. This is a sign of Facebook’s failure to earn people’s trust over the years.
In an interview on the eve of this week’s Meta Connect event, The Verge’s Alex Health directly asked Mark Zuckerberg if he understood why people felt weird about AI. . CEO Mehta did not give an exact answer.
Heath: But the concerns that people and creators have about training data and how it’s used, that the data is being used in these models and they’re not getting paid, and the models are creating a lot of value. You get the idea? I know we’re handing out llamas, but we have a meta AI on board. I understand the frustration people have. I think it’s a natural negative feeling to feel, “Oh, my data is being used in a new way that I can’t control or compensate for.” Do you sympathize with that? Zuckerberg. Yeah. I think in new media of technology, there is a concept of fair use and where the boundaries of what you can control are. When you bring something out into the world, to what extent do you control it, own it, license it? In the AI era, all of these things basically need to be re-litigated and re-discussed. I think there is. Understood. These are important questions. I don’t think this is anything new at all for AI in the grand scheme of things. There were also questions about the Internet as a whole and, over time, different technologies. But it will be important to make that clear. Then people will be able to build what society wants them to build.
There may be reasons why people feel uncomfortable when it comes to using people’s Facebook and Instagram posts to train AI. Meta should listen to the outpouring of emotions on the part of its users. They feel weird and uncomfortable about their stuff being used to train AI.
