Many companies are fully committed to artificial intelligence, including Meta. The company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp now wants to use your posted photos to train their AI models. Don’t you want this? Then you can to object.
From June 26, Meta will use all messages and photos posted on their platform to their Train AI models to improve generative AI tools. The photos are used to generate new images. Due to the unrest in the EU, its use has been postponed for the time being, but it will come.
Generative AI in short
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems capable of generating new, original content based on patterns learned from existing data. These systems use algorithms, such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), to produce images, texts, or music that resemble human creations, for example.
They learn patterns and structures in data sets and then create new content that follows these patterns. To do this as realistically as possible, the model needs many examples.
Meta trains AI model
As you can read, AI needs a large database to learn from and to fall back on when generating new content. Meta will train their AI models with new information and will use all messages and photos on Instagram and Facebook. With these photos, Meta wants to create new images of their neighborhood. To do this as realistically as possible, Meta needs a lot of information and it is readily available.
Privacy concerns
This news makes many people concerned about their privacy. Will part of your photo soon appear on an image generated by the AI model? Most likely not. The AI tool combines the information from multiple photos to then create a new part. These are not copies, but the parts are inspired by the original.
Not yet in the EU
After the announcement, there was quite a commotion and supervisors in the EU started asking questions. Meta says his approach is in accordance with the law. The company states that it has ‘legitimate interests’ to use your Facebook and Instagram posts. In this way, the company indicates that it complies with the GDPR privacy legislation.
The original intention was that Meta would also start using all photos for their AI models in the EU on June 26. Here comes the company back for now after pressure from European regulators. Meta will not use data originating from the EU for this purpose. It is not clear why and for how long Meta suspends his plans. It is expected that the European photos will eventually also be used.
Submit an objection to Meta
It’s not a nice thought that Meta will use all parts of your photo for their AI models. Fortunately, you can file an objection and the company must agree to this according to European Privacy legislation. Through this link you can file an objection for an Instagram account, or use this link for a Facebook account. Are the links not working? You can also do this via the steps below.
- Open Instagram and go to your profile
- Tap the menu (three horizontal lines) at the top right
- Scroll down until you see ‘About’ and tap it
- Click on ‘Privacy Policy’
- At the top there is a text about updating the privacy policy. Tap/click on the blue link in the text under ‘right to object’.
- Complete the form with the message: ‘That you do not want your data to be used’.
- Open the Facebook app
- Tap or click the menu at the bottom right
- Select the cogwheel with ‘Settings and privacy’.
- Then tap or click “Settings.”
- Scroll all the way down until you see ‘Privacy Policy’ and click on it.
- At the top there is a text about updating the privacy policy. Click on the blue link in the text under ‘right to object’.
- Complete the form with the message: ‘That you do not want your data to be used’.
Please note that this is unfortunately not a guarantee. If a friend who has not objected posts a photo of both of you, it can still be used for Meta’s AI tools.