Facebook posts from as far back as 2007 being used to train Meta AI
Text and photos posted publicly to Facebook and Instagram from as far back as 2007 are being used to train Meta's artificial intelligence models, a Parliamentary committee has heard. Representatives from Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, were pressed on their AI models during a Senate select committee hearing on Wednesday.
Melinda Claybaugh, global privacy policy director at Meta, confirmed that unless a person had set their profile or posts to private, their social media posts were being used to train Meta's AI models.
Privacy Concerns
During the hearing, Greens Senator David Shoebridge raised concerns about the scraping of public posts on social media platforms. He pointed out that Meta had been collecting data from public posts on Instagram and Facebook since 2007, without the explicit consent of users.
In response, Ms. Claybaugh acknowledged the practice, stating that Meta does not use data from accounts of individuals under 18 years of age to train its AI models. However, Senator Shoebridge highlighted the ethical implications of using personal data, especially images of children, without explicit consent.
Ethical Dilemma
Senator Shoebridge questioned the ethicality of Meta's actions, citing scenarios where personal moments shared by users on Facebook were being used to feed into AI models without their knowledge or consent. He emphasized the need for more transparency and ethical considerations in the use of personal data for AI training.
In response, Ms. Claybaugh assured that Meta has privacy measures in place to protect personal data from being exploited by its AI products.
Opt-In Process
Labor Senator Varun Ghosh raised the suggestion of implementing an opt-in process for users to consent to the use of their data for training AI models. Simon Milner, vice president of public policy APAC at Meta, expressed concerns about making opt-ins compulsory, citing potential user annoyance.
The committee also discussed the use of copyrighted works, including pirated books, to train Meta's AI models. However, Meta representatives refrained from commenting on the issue due to ongoing legal matters.
Criticism and Calls for Change
Senator Sheldon criticized Meta's data usage practices, labeling them as dishonest and predatory. He called for a reassessment of privacy laws to address the exploitation of user data for AI training purposes.
The controversy surrounding Meta's data practices has sparked debate on the ethical implications of AI training and the need for stronger privacy regulations to protect user data.
