In recent times, big tech companies are in a race to develop advanced AI products. This has led to an increasing demand for data to train AI models. Many companies are making use of their large pool of user generated content for this purpose. This has raised concerns about privacy, data ownership, and transparency.
LinkedIn, a popular professional social networking platform, has been accused of using its users’ data to train AI models without clearly asking for user permission. Several users and a report from 404 Media pointed that LinkedIn is using its user’s data to improve its AI products, and had not yet updated its terms of service to reflect this change.
This pattern of AI scraping is not just happening with LinkedIn. Other tech companies like Meta, Snapchat have also faced accusations of secretly using users data for their AI models. They often do this by having users opted in by default, without clearly informing them. LinkedIn’ situation is particularly worrying because it is a professional platform that holds a lot of sensitive information.
Mariano Delli Santi, a legal expert from the Open Rights Group, criticized this practice stating that LinkedIn is the latest social media company found to be processing our data without asking for consent. He further said companies shouldn’t expect users to constantly check if their data is being used for AI training. Also pointing out that the opt-out model isn’t good enough to protect users’ rights. He believes that companies should ask for permission (opt-in) before using data, as required by law and common sense.
LinkedIn has updated its policy and has made users aware of the opt-out option. They say that opting out means LinkedIn and its partners won’t use your personal data or content to train AI models in the future. However, this does not affect any training that has already been done.
To opt-out of this default settings, users can do the following:
- Open your LinkedIn profile and go to settings.
- Click on “Data and Privacy”.
- Then click on “Data for Generative AI improvement”.
- Lastly, toggle off the option beside “Use my data for training content creation AI models”.
As AI becomes more integrated into our digital lives, it’s important for users to stay informed about how their data is being used. Although companies argue that this data use improves their services, it is vital that they protect their users’ privacy, consent, and data ownership. Users should make an effort to read and understand the privacy policies of any platform they use, especially if it uses AI technology. Also they can check and update their privacy settings to suit their preference.
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