Over the weekend, Google updated it privacy policy to allow the company to collect and analyze the information people share online to train its AI models.
Google says it will use this information to improve its services and develop new AI-based products.
Google’s privacy policy update says:
“Google uses information to improve our services and to develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public. For example, we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Bard and cloud AI capabilities.”
Here’s more about the policy change and what it could mean for internet users.
A change from “language” models to “AI” models.
The updated policy marks a clear change from Google’s previous terms of service.
Before this weekend’s update, Google’s policy said it used people’s data to improve “language” models.
Google now reserves the right to use people’s data to improve all of its “AI” models and products, including translation systems, text-generating systems, and cloud AI services.
Google highlights the changes in its privacy policy archive page (green represents newly added information):
Screenshot from: policies.google.com/privacy/, July 2022.
Privacy policies typically restrict companies from collecting data that users provide directly. Under Google’s new policy, the company can use any information that people post publicly online.
Privacy Concerns
Using AI systems to analyze people’s online posts raises privacy concerns.
AI technologies such as Google’s Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT can collect and reuse people’s posts, reviews, and other online content.
While anyone can see anything posted online, how that information can be used is changing. The main concern is to change from WHO can access the data how could be used.
Also, the legality of this data collection method is still up in the air.
As we move forward, we expect courts to grapple with complex copyright issues.
Web Scraping
The issue of web scraping has drawn the attention of high-profile tech figures like Elon Musk, who has voiced his concerns, even blaming several recent Twitter mishaps on the platform’s efforts to prevent data mining .
Over the weekend, Twitter reduced the number of tweets users could see per day, rendering the service nearly unusable. moss attributed this is an essential response to “data exfiltration” and “system manipulation”.
The prevalence of web scraping practices by tech giants is now a central debate in the debate over consumer data use and privacy.
How to protect your data
If you’re concerned about changes to Google’s privacy policy, here are some steps you can take to prevent Google from using your data to train its AI systems:
Only post public information that you feel comfortable with anyone, including Google, accessing and using. Use Google’s privacy controls. Go to your Google Account and review your privacy settings. You can choose to turn off options like “Web and app activity,” “Location history,” and “Voice and audio activity.” Use alternative services. Instead of using Google services like Search, Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, etc., you can switch to alternative providers with stricter privacy policies. Options include DuckDuckGo for search, ProtonMail for email, Vimeo for video sharing, and Brave for web browsing. When using Google services, turn on incognito or private browsing mode. Please read the privacy policies of websites, mobile apps or other services before using them. Be wary of those who claim to share your data with Google. Contact Google directly to express your concerns about how your data may be used to train its AI models.
To sum up
Google’s update that allows the company to collect and analyze public data to train its AI systems highlights important issues.
First, as AI technologies become more advanced, tech companies have a growing appetite for data. However, this data collection must be done legally and ethically, with users’ consent and knowledge of how their information is being used.
Second, people should carefully decide what they share online and be aware that public posts can be used in ways that are difficult to predict.
While AI promises many benefits, it introduces new challenges that we must overcome to build a responsible future with AI.
Featured Image: Ian Dewar Photography/Shutterstock
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