Ina Friend, Axios; What AI knows about you
"Most AI builders don't say where they are getting the data they use to train their bots and models — but legally they're required to say what they are doing with their customers' data.
The big picture: These data-use disclosures open a window onto the otherwise opaque world of Big Tech's AI brain-food fight.
- In this new Axios series, we'll tell you, company by company, what all the key players are saying and doing with your personal information and content.
Why it matters: You might be just fine knowing that picture you just posted on Instagram is helping train the next generative AI art engine. But you might not — or you might just want to be choosier about what you share.
Zoom out: AI makers need an incomprehensibly gigantic amount of raw data to train their large language and image models.
- The industry's hunger has led to a data land grab: Companies are vying to teach their baby AIs using information sucked in from many different sources — sometimes with the owner's permission, often without it — before new laws and court rulings make that harder.
Zoom in: Each Big Tech giant is building generative AI models, and many of them are using their customer data, in part, to train them.
- In some cases it's opt-in, meaning your data won't be used unless you agree to it. In other cases it is opt-out, meaning your information will automatically get used unless you explicitly say no.
- These rules can vary by region, thanks to legal differences. For instance, Meta's Facebook and Instagram are "opt-out" — but you can only opt out if you live in Europe or Brazil.
- In the U.S., California's data privacy law is among the laws responsible for requiring firms to say what they do with user data. In the EU, it's the GDPR."
