For years, Meta\u2019s trained its AI programs using the billions of public images uploaded by users onto Facebook and Instagram\u2019s servers. But apparently, Meta has decided to try training its AI on the billions of images that users haven\u2019t uploaded to those servers.<\/p>\n
On Friday, TechCrunch reported<\/a> that Facebook users trying to post something on the Story feature have encountered pop-up messages asking if they\u2019d like to opt into \u201ccloud processing\u201d, which would allow Facebook to \u201cselect media from your camera roll and upload it to our cloud on a regular basis\u201d, to generate \u201cideas like collages, recaps, AI restyling or themes like birthdays or graduations.\u201d <\/p>\n By allowing this feature, the message continues, users are agreeing to Meta AI terms, which allows their AI to analyze \u201cmedia and facial features\u201d of those unpublished photos, as well as the date said photos were taken, and the presence of other people or objects in them. You further grant Meta the right to \u201cretain and use\u201d that personal information.<\/p>\n Meta recently acknowledged<\/a> that it\u2019s scraped the data from all the content that\u2019s been published on Facebook and Instagram since 2007 to train its generative AI models. Though the company stated that it\u2019s only used public posts uploaded from adult users over the age of 18, it has long been vague about exactly what \u201cpublic\u201d entails, as well as what counted as an \u201cadult user\u201d in 2007. <\/p>\n Unlike Google, which explicitly states<\/a> that it does not train generative AI models with personal data gleaned from Google Photos, Meta\u2019s current AI usage terms, which have been in place since June 23, 2024, do not provide any clarity as to whether unpublished photos accessed through \u201ccloud processing\u201d are exempt from being used as training data. Meta did not return TechCrunch\u2019s request for comment; The Verge has reached out for comment as well.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Facebook users do have an option to turn off camera roll cloud processing in their settings, which, once activated, will also start removing unpublished photos from the cloud after 30 days. But the workaround, disguised as a feature, suggest a new incursion into our private data, one that bypasses the point of friction known as conscientiously deciding to post a photo for public consumption. And according to Reddit posts found by TechCrunch, Meta\u2019s already offering AI restyling suggestions on previously-uploaded photos, even if users hadn\u2019t been aware of the feature: one user reported <\/a>that Facebook had Studio Ghiblified her wedding photos without her knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Meta\u2019s trained its AI programs using the billions of public images uploaded by users onto Facebook…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[691,738,340,242,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-20394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-meta","11":"tag-tech","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114758088365991981","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}