Meta to resume AI-training on content shared by Europeans (1945900)
Meta has announced that it will begin training its artificial intelligence models with content shared by adult European users on its Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.
The AI training content includes posts, comments and questions from adult users as well as queries and questions made by Meta’s AI assistant. The company has stated that it will not use “people’s private messages with friends and family” nor “public data” from Europeans under the age of 18 to train AI models.
This week, people in the EU using the social media giant’s platforms will receive in-app and e-mail notifications explaining the type of data Meta will be using. These alerts include a link that will take them to an online form to object to the use of their data in this manner. Meta says that the form is easy to use and will accept all forms submitted. It said in a
“This training will better support millions of people and businesses in Europe, by teaching our generative AI models to better understand and reflect their cultures, languages and history,” Monday press release “People based in the EU who use our platforms can choose to object to their public data being used for training purposes.”
Rollout resumes following June delay
This announcement comes after Meta delayed its AI training using public content that was shared on Facebook and Instagram in June 2024 at the request of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission . The 2024 delay is due to NOYB, a nonprofit Austrian organization that enforces data protection laws in 11 European countries, including Ireland. Ireland’s DPC approved the introduction Meta AI in the EU/EEA, but reversed their decision after being pushed by other EU data privacy authorities. Meta announced on Monday that the European Data Protection Board, the EU’s data privacy regulator, had approved the new rollout, because it complies with the stringent data privacy laws of the European Union. It said. Last month, the social network giant began rolling out its Meta AI Assistant in WhatsApp across Europe. Meta says that conversations with Meta AI will not be used for training Meta AI. However, personal chats could be used in future versions.
