If you're among the majority of Australians with Facebook or Instagram accounts, your social activity on those platforms is about to start training Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) tools — and if you live in Australia, you can't say no.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram’s parent company) will start using Australians’ social media posts and activity dating back to 2007 to train their artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
This policy update will take effect on June 26, 2024.
Only users in the European Union and the U.S. state of Illinois can currently opt out, due to AI protection laws like the GDPR.
Many Australians were unaware of this policy change and expressed concerns about privacy and the impact on artists’ livelihoods.
Artists like Sara Fandrey and Thomas Fitzpatrick are worried this will negatively impact their work and the creative industry.
Experts explain that while this may not be copyright infringement, it poses a threat to artists’ economic assets and business models.
Advocacy groups have launched complaints against Meta in the EU, and some users are migrating to alternative, artist-run social platforms like Cara to avoid AI-powered content generation.
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