Meta’s announcement that it will use public posts on its platform to train its artificial intelligence models has sparked widespread concern. The decision will take effect globally on June 26, but European users will have the right to opt out of this data use, while users in other regions will not have this option. This differentiated policy could lead to a backlash from European users and regulators, as well as legal challenges. This article will analyze in detail the background, potential impact and possible controversy of Meta’s move.
- Meta will start using social media posts to train its artificial intelligence models, but European users will be able to opt out, while users in other regions will not be able to enjoy this convenience.
- EU users can choose to refuse public posts on the Meta platform to be used to train artificial intelligence models, and this choice will take effect globally on June 26.
- Meta This move may trigger opposition and challenges from European users and regulatory agencies.
News from ChinaZ.com on June 11: Social media giant Meta will start using social media posts to train its artificial intelligence model. Although European users can opt out, users in other regions will not be able to enjoy this convenience. According to Meta's announcement today, this initiative is aimed at providing more training data for its artificial intelligence system, and has now begun to cover European users.
According to Meta, to better serve the European community, Meta's AI models need to be trained with relevant information that reflects the diverse linguistic, geographical and cultural backgrounds of Europe's population. Therefore, they hope to use the content of posts that EU users choose to share publicly on the Meta platform to train their artificial intelligence models, including public content such as posts, comments, photos, etc. However, private messages will be strictly prohibited from being used for training data.
However, Meta has sent billions of notifications to European users, offering the chance to decline before AI training rules take effect globally on June 26. Meta said any user can opt out and their posts will not be used to train the AI model. Facebook and Instagram users outside the EU do not have this option, and training of future models will be mandatory for them.
While Meta may think it has good reasons to start using European user data, it's hard to imagine there won't be any pushback. Before Meta announced the news, consumer privacy advocacy group noyb had filed lawsuits across Europe. noyb says collection of user data should default to opt-in rather than opt-out. In addition, due to the EU’s “right to be forgotten”, data is actually very difficult to purge from large language models or other artificial intelligence models, which can also cause problems.
Beyond that, relations between Meta and the EU are not exactly cordial. The EU has launched multiple investigations into Meta this year, including one involving child safety and disinformation during the EU parliamentary elections. While it's unclear whether Meta will ultimately be able to follow through on its plans, it's conceivable that at some point the social network may face challenges.
Meta's move has caused a lot of controversy in terms of data privacy and user rights. Its subsequent development deserves continued attention. The final result will have a profound impact on the data use regulations of the artificial intelligence industry and may affect relevant policy formulation in other regions around the world.