Meta is now going aggressive in improving its artificial intelligence experience on social media, particularly in Europe, as the company has announced that it will now start collecting user data in the region.
The company will now start to notify EU users that they are going to start collecting their user data and explain how these would help train Meta’s AI.
The good thing about this is that Meta will offer Europeans a way to opt out of the user data harvesting, and users do not have to uninstall the apps or deactivate their accounts to escape it.
Meta to Start Using European User Data For AI Training
After a long time of going through regulatory processes, Meta is now starting its European expansion of Meta AI, and to do so, it needs more user data from the region and its people. According to the latest blog post by Meta, it wants to make their AI “work harder” for Europeans, and to do that, the company needs more access to the region’s user data for AI training.
Meta revealed that it will get access to the interactions or engagements by users who try out the company’s AI experiences on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Additionally, all the public posts made by Europeans would also be used as training data for its AI.
The company is now rolling out notices to users in the EU region via email and in-app notifications on the aforementioned platformers, with the company explaining what type of user data would be collected from users and how they will utilize it.
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Meta’s EU User Data AI Training: Users May Opt Out
That being said, Meta assures that European users may opt out of the user data collection, and it will be a top priority for the company to allow users to choose not to have their information collected for AI training.
Meta assures the public that it will not use private messages for its AI training in the region, with the company saying that it aims to improve the Meta AI experience for Europe.
Meta AI: User Data For Improved Social Media
Meta has long been developing AI tech, centering on the Llama model, which is their large language model for various processes. Previously, Meta has been caught up in a controversy where it allegedly used copyrighted books for training its AI models, and the company did so despite the warnings.
It has been established before that Meta’s platforms are collecting user data to improve the social media experience, and the company shares these troves of information to third-party advertisers for profits.
However, the age of AI also raised concerns regarding the company’s use of user data for AI training, and the company has made it known that it is training their tools using these resources.
Many users have opted out of this by going through the ins and outs of the Meta’s Account Center where they configured their privacy settings and submitted their requests to keep their data away from AI training use.
That being said, others have chosen to leave Meta for good by deactivating their Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts, but that does not ensure all previous data are wiped off from their collection.
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