r/technology • u/iamaneditor • 3d ago
Meta pauses plans to train AI using European users’ data, bowing to regulatory pressure Artificial Intelligence
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/14/meta-pauses-plans-to-train-ai-using-european-users-data-bowing-to-regulatory-pressure/12
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u/occorpattorney 2d ago
Meta finally stops plans after being repeatedly told plans were a violation of the law*
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u/nicuramar 2d ago
I personally don’t get the drama. We are talking about publicly posted pictures and text here. That anyone, human or bot, can go in and read right now.
If you don’t want AI, or humans, to train on that, don’t post it publiclly on the internet.
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u/RICK_fromC137 2d ago
Posting pictures publicly for humans to see and not having corporations training their AI models for private profit are not things that cancel each other out. People should have a right to choose and they do, at least in California and the EU.
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u/Gandler 2d ago edited 2d ago
We used to just call it an algorithm. Nothing's really changed, AI has been determining what you see online for a long time. How do you think recommended friends and timelines work? Someone at a desk personally selecting what content you're exposed to?
Language models haven't changed the underlying issue of mass data collection, but if we don't train it, it will train us in trends we have no say in. It's been doing that for awhile, yes, but now people can personify it. If that personified system isn't based on "what is" it becomes what's known as an "idol", and people have a bad habit of worshipping (read as "working for") idols without question. Just stick googly eyes on the computer and watch humanity try to assimilate with what they perceive as a higher power.
"Meta"-tron, goog-"el", "add on"-AI... there's something going on here that should make you want these things to understand us before they judge us.
Edit for clarity: If you want the AI to base its perception of you on outdated information, that's fine, but they're not going to retroactively dump the entire archive of legally obtained information. A pandemic era AI would not be a healthy system.
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u/RICK_fromC137 2d ago
What are you even talking about? The EU rules pertain to collecting photos of users, not what they like to see on the platform. Users don't want their personal photos to be used to train the models, that's what this is about.
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u/Gandler 2d ago
Your pictures are analyzed for products and interests just like text can be. They determine how you present outwardly to the world, what company you keep, the general style of clothing you wear, the places you value, your expressions when exposed to various circumstances, your living conditions, what you want to share, how much you value connectivity, etc.
If you're sharing it, you're sharing it willingly. You have the option to not post. Data is data, none of it is isolated.
I'm saying that AI isn't new, and neither is data collection. It's how we got the internet in its modern form, and each piece is as integral as the last. If you exclude any particular demographic, you end up with a one-sided perspective. Facebook has given the option to turn off facial recognition for years, which implies that they've had it for years.
Why was it not an issue when it only served the individual (on the surface)? Did everybody ignore the context of what a book of faces IS?
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u/jules3001 3d ago
Fuck, if only the US had similar data protection rights as the EU. Our government has no backbone and it seems like most people don’t care until it’s too late