Meta Platforms Inc. has long been using artificial intelligence to help it serve users content and ads it thinks are most likely to interest them, but its new chatbot has thrust the company鈥檚 use of the technology back into the spotlight.
The Meta AI chatbot embedded in the company鈥檚 platforms 鈥� Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp 鈥� can be used for searches and to answer questions. A promotional page shows you can ask it for recipes, to generate images or to put together lists of popular guitar songs to play.
But it鈥檚 also prompted some users to wonder how Meta鈥檚 AI systems use their data and what, if anything, they can do to opt out of the new feature.
Where does Meta get the information it trains its AI models on?
Meta doesn鈥檛 list every source that trains its AI models, but its privacy centre says it makes use of information that is publicly available online or licensed.
It also says it uses information shared through its products and services, like posts, photos and their captions.
What data does Meta say it doesn鈥檛 use to train its AI models?
Meta鈥檚 privacy centre says the company does not use private messages exchanged between users for training its AI systems.
While Meta鈥檚 AI systems make use of public information collected from the internet or licensed from other providers, it does not link this data to accounts. For example, if it uses a public blog post featuring an author鈥檚 name and contact information, the company says it doesn鈥檛 later connect that content to the user鈥檚 Meta account.
The company also says it did not train its foundational models 鈥� Llama 2, Llama 3 鈥� on user data.
If I don鈥檛 use Meta鈥檚 social networks, could the company still train its AI systems on my data?
It鈥檚 possible.
鈥淓ven if you don鈥檛 use our products and services or have an account, we may still process information about you to develop and improve AI at Meta,鈥� the company鈥檚 privacy centre says.
鈥淔or example, this could happen if you appear anywhere in an image shared on our products or services by someone who does use them or if someone mentions information about you in posts or captions that they share on our products and services.鈥�
Can you opt out of letting Meta use your data?
Meta has a form available in its privacy centre called 鈥淒ata Subject Rights for Third Party Information Used for AI at Meta.鈥�
Users can fill out the form and select 鈥淚 want to delete any personal information from third parties used for building and improving AI at Meta.鈥�
Meta says it doesn鈥檛 automatically fulfil requests sent using this form but reviews them to see if they are consistent with local laws that might require them to remove your data from their AI training.
How successful have Canadians been with this process?
Alanna Smith, a Toronto-based small business owner in the entertainment industry, filled out Meta鈥檚 form in hopes of getting the company to not use her data for its AI systems.
In an email, she said the form was 鈥渄eeply hidden and tricky to find.鈥� It also required her to provide proof that her data has been used to train Meta鈥檚 AI systems.
鈥淗ow are we to 鈥榩rove鈥� that specific data or images are in this infinitely large artificial memory we don鈥檛 even have access to review?鈥� she questioned.
Smith is unsure whether her request was successful because she never got a confirmation acknowledging the request.
David Troya-Alvarez, a Meta spokesperson, did not respond to a question about how many Canadians have successfully opted out so far.
Other than the opt-out form, is there anything Canadians can do to limit Meta鈥檚 ability to use their data for training its AI?
Brett Caraway, a media economics professor, said users can consider not using the platform altogether, but he realizes many people need the company鈥檚 technology for their job or interpersonal communication.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e either unwilling or unable to do that, I tend to think closely about what is it that I鈥檓 posting,鈥� says Caraway, who has stopped using Facebook but keeps an inactive account.
Rather than fulfilling the itch to get information on the platform right away, he recommends people step away from their devices and decide whether it really needs to be on the platform and whether they鈥檙e prepared for the company to potentially use the information.
Can I disable the Meta AI tool I see in my Facebook and Instagram search?
No. Troya-Alvarez, the Meta spokesperson, said in an email to The Canadian Press that Meta AI cannot be disabled.
鈥淢eta AI aims to be a helpful assistant and is in the search bar to assist with your questions,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 disable it from this experience, but you can search how you normally would to engage with a variety of results.鈥�
While you can鈥檛 turn the feature off, you can mute it by tapping the blue Meta AI circle in your Facebook or Instagram search bar and then hitting the blue circle with an 鈥渋鈥� inside it. From there, you will encounter a 鈥渕ute鈥� button letting you silence the chatbot.
Is Meta saving information from chats I have with its AI tool?
Yes. Meta鈥檚 privacy centre says it saves the messages you send it, the AI鈥檚 responsesand details about you so it can 鈥渃arry on the conversation.鈥�
鈥淔or example, if you share with the AI that you like Italian food, it will save that detail,鈥� the company鈥檚 privacy centre says.
鈥淭hat way if later you ask for restaurants you might enjoy in New York, it should recommend Italian restaurants.鈥�
How can I see what information Meta has on me from chats I had with its Meta AI tool?
Type in /saved-details in your Meta AI chat window or visit your account centre when logged into Instagram and Facebook. To download the information on WhatsApp, you can also type /download-all-ai-info into a chat with your AI.
How can I delete this information?
Type /reset-ai into individual chats you had with Meta AI in Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp. By doing this, Meta says you essentially reset the AI because the move deletes its copy of your messages and the previous context of the conversation.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l still see your copy of the chat with the AI, but it won鈥檛 remember the previous messages,鈥� the company says.
What about other platforms?
Caraway, the University of Toronto professor, says even platforms that aren鈥檛 using AI models yet might be inclined to later, so it鈥檚 wise to think about how they could use your information before posting on them.
鈥淢ost of the social media platforms are incentivized to either pursue their own AI tools, if they can afford it, or to partner with a third-party AI developer,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 would always just assume that either the platform itself is somehow tied to AI or there鈥檚 another company out there that is ingesting all of the publicly available information for AI training. This is just part of the way the internet is structured now.鈥�
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