September 17, 2024 at 11:03PM
Meta will start training its AI systems with public content from adult users in the UK on Facebook and Instagram. Users aged 18 and above will receive notifications explaining the process and how to object. Meta paused similar efforts in the EU but received support from the UK’s ICO. The ICO will monitor the situation.
From the meeting notes, the key takeaways are:
1. Meta has announced its plans to train its artificial intelligence (AI) systems using public content shared by adult users across Facebook and Instagram in the U.K. in the coming months. The goal is to have the AI models reflect British culture, history, and idiom and allow UK companies and institutions to utilize the latest technology.
2. Users aged 18 and above are expected to receive in-app notifications on both Facebook and Instagram, explaining the company’s modus operandi and providing an objection form to deny their data being used to train the AI models.
3. Meta has engaged with the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and is implementing the legal basis of Legitimate Interests for using first-party data to train its AI models. The company has also made adjustments to its objection form based on feedback from the ICO.
4. Meta has paused similar efforts in the European Union after a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) in June 2024. This has sparked criticism from organizations such as the Austrian privacy non-profit noyb, which has accused the company of making the process opt-out instead of opt-in and failing to provide adequate information on its use of publicly accessible Facebook and Instagram data.
5. Meta has also suspended the use of generative AI in Brazil after the country’s data protection authority issued a preliminary ban objecting to its new privacy policy.
6. The ICO has made it clear that organizations using users’ information to train generative AI models need to be transparent about how the data is being used and should put effective safeguards in place. The ICO has not provided regulatory approval for the processing, and it is Meta’s responsibility to ensure and demonstrate ongoing compliance.
This summary captures the main points discussed in the meeting notes regarding Meta’s AI training plans and the regulatory and public reactions to these plans in different regions.