Facebook scrapes and uses public photos, posts and other data from adult Australian users to train AI models. These users have not consented to this, nor can they opt out. Melinda Claybaugh, Meta's global privacy policy director, said this recently to an Australian Senate committee investigating AI.
Last June, Meta announced it was pausing its plans to train its own AI model with European users' personal data. "In Europe, there is an ongoing legal question about the interpretation of existing privacy laws related to AI training," Claybaugh said. "Because of the ambiguity, we have paused the launch of our AI products in Europe, so it is true that we are offering an opt-out to users in Europe."
According to Claybaugh, Australian users can set their data as private. She added that Meta, however, needs a large amount of data to develop its own AI tools.
"There is a reason people's privacy is protected in Europe and not in Australia. It's because European policymakers have put in place strict privacy laws. Meta made it clear today that if Australia had the same laws, Australians' data would also be protected," Senator David Shoebridge responded to ABC.
