Stephen Almond, executive director of regulatory risk at the ICO, expressed satisfaction with LinkedIn's decision, stating, "We are pleased that LinkedIn has reflected on the concerns we raised about its approach to training generative AI models with information relating to its U.K. users." He added that the ICO will closely monitor companies, including Microsoft and LinkedIn, to ensure adequate safeguards are in place to protect the data rights of U.K. users.
This development follows LinkedIn's admission of using user data for AI training without explicit consent, as outlined in an updated privacy policy that took effect on September 18, 2024. LinkedIn stated, "At this time, we are not enabling training for generative AI on member data from the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and will not provide this setting to members in those regions until further notice."
In a separate FAQ, LinkedIn emphasized its efforts to minimize personal data in training datasets, using privacy-enhancing technologies to redact or remove such data. Users outside Europe can opt out of data use for AI improvement in their account settings.
LinkedIn's move follows similar practices by other tech companies. Meta has acknowledged scraping non-private user data for AI purposes and has resumed training on U.K. users' data. Last August, Zoom abandoned plans to use customer content for AI training due to privacy concerns.
This situation highlights increasing scrutiny of AI, particularly regarding the use of personal data in training models. It also coincides with a report from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noting that large social media and streaming platforms have engaged in extensive user surveillance with insufficient privacy protections, often combining personal data with information from third-party sources to create detailed consumer profiles for monetization.
The FTC criticized companies for inadequate data collection, minimization, and retention practices, stating, "Many companies engaged in broad data sharing that raises serious concerns regarding their data handling controls and oversight."
Source:The Hacker News.
