Meta has started notifying Instagram and Facebook users across the UK that it is training its AI with their posts – and people are not happy about it.
In emails and notifications being sent to UK users, Meta says it’s using posts, comments, photos and even captions to help develop its human-like ‘generative AI’, akin to ChatGPT.
By being trained with UK user data, Meta told MailOnline that the AI will ‘reflect and understand British language, geography and culture’.
Social media users are fuming over the controversial move, with one person saying the tech giant can ‘f*** right off’.
If you don’t want your personal data being handed over to Meta’s AI training programme, here’s how you can object.
Meta, the owner of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, will use your posts to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models (file photo)
How to opt out of Meta’s controversial AI training programme
Pictured, the notification you may have seen on Instagram
If you’re using Facebook on Android, select ‘help and support’, ‘terms and policies’ and ‘privacy policy’.
If you’re using the Facebook on iOS, choose ‘settings and privacy’, ‘settings’ and scroll down to ‘privacy policy’.
Then follow these steps:
1. At the top of the page, there should be a message about the update to Meta’s privacy policy and a link labelled ‘AI at Meta’.
2. Following this link takes you to a page where you’ll be told how Meta will be using information for its AI models and it’ll include a link to the ‘right to object’ form at the top.
On Instagram, you can opt out by navigating to the Privacy Centre and following steps 1 and 2 above.
Meta said the project – which was detailed in a blog post last month – applies just to adults (people 18 and over) using Facebook and Instagram in the UK.
This week, Instagram users have been noticing a notification saying: ‘We’re planning new AI features for you. Learn how we use your information.’
Once you tap on the notification, you’re directed to a 160-word statement confirming the move and explaining it in more detail.
‘We’re getting ready to expand our AI at Meta experiences,’ it reads.
‘AI at Meta is our collection of generative AI features and experiences, such as Meta AI and AI creative tools, along with the models that power them.
‘To help bring these experiences to you, we want you to know that we’ll use public information like public posts and comments from accounts of people 18 years or older on the basis of legitimate interests.
‘We’ll do this to develop and improve AI at Meta.’
Instagram users are also being emailed the statement, which is titled ‘Learn how we use your information as we expand AI at Meta’.
Speaking to MailOnline, a spokesperson said Meta is using both Instagram and Facebook posts and comments, as well as photos and their captions, to train the AI – but not the content of private messages.
What’s more, it will only use publicly-available information, so if you have a private Instagram account it will not be used.
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg – now president of global affairs for Meta – said the content is from adults on Facebook and Instagram in the UK and Brazil.
In fact, Meta – owned by Mark Zuckerberg – is riling privacy authorities all around the world by quietly scraping user data in other countries too (UK and Brazil are just the nations where people are able to object, in line with privacy laws).
According to the New York Times, Meta is taking what it needs from US user posts, but due to less strict privacy laws the tech giant is not required to notify people.
Meanwhile, Meta’s global privacy director Melinda Claybaugh admitted it’s happening to Australian users too, with no opt-out option, ABC reports.
In response, Meta admitted to MailOnline it is training its AI models ‘globally and in countries where the product is rolling/has rolled out’.
The product, which is similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is a chatbot that Meta describes as your ‘go-to creative assistant’ that has ‘conversational capabilities and image analysis features’.
It’s been released in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, but not in the UK or Europe due to regulatory hurdles.
Instagram users are being sent information about the controversial move to use customer data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models
The product, which is similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is a chatbot that Meta describes as your ‘go-to creative assistant’ that has ‘conversational capabilities and image analysis features’
Fortunately for Brits, you have the right to opt-out, although the process might take you a while.
On Instagram, you can do so by navigating to the Privacy Centre, while on Facebook you have to navigate to the privacy policy.
If you’ve received the Instagram notification or email, you can also click/tap a URL link in the word ‘object’.
You’ll have to fill out a form telling Meta why you object to your posts being used this way.
Meta told MailOnline that it will honour all objection forms.
However, even if you opt out, your information may still be used to train Meta’s AI models, via data scraped from other users who have shared your info, consumer champion Which? points out.
For example, this could be an image of you shared by someone else, or you being mentioned in someone else’s posts.
You’ll have to fill out a form telling Meta why you object to your to your posts being used this way – although your objection may not be approved
According to X user @Tantacrul, people who have filled out their objection will need to enter an emailed code for the objection to be properly submitted.
Although he had his objection honoured, @Tantacrul pointed out that other users were sent an error alert – making it unclear if they had to do it all over again.
@Tantacrul also suggested that Meta has made the whole process as hard as possible so fewer people object, calling it ‘ugly’.
Other users took to X to complain about Meta’s initiative as well as the objection process.
One posted: ‘lol… ur free to opt of of Meta AI, but they’ll decide whether to honour it.’
Another said: ‘I do not trust Meta one bit and I’m even more sceptical that AI will be beneficial to any of us’, adding that Meta can ‘f*** right off’.
Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, now president of global affairs for Meta, also confirmed the change on X (Twitter)
Social media users took to X to complain about the whole initiative and the objection process
Another said ‘I do not trust Meta one bit and I’m even more sceptical that AI will be beneficial to any of us’, adding that Meta can ‘f*** right off’
Someone else said: ‘Meta wants you to beg them not to train their AI on your stuff – at their discretion.
‘Waiting for literally any DPA [Data Protection Act] to do something about this nonsense.’
Already, users have been protesting by reposting a viral image on Instagram Stories, although, unlike many believed, the protest is in no way legally binding.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said that it has not given regulatory approval for Meta’s plan but it will monitor the process.
