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Meta Gets 11 EU Complaints Over Use of Personal Data to Train AI Models

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Meta Gets 11 EU Complaints Over Use of Personal Data to Train AI Models

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Meta Platforms was hit with 11 complaints on Thursday over proposed changes that would see it use personal data to train its artificial intelligence models without asking for consent, which may breach European Union privacy rules.
Advocacy group NOYB (none of your business) urged national privacy watchdogs to act immediately to halt such use, saying recent changes in Meta's privacy policy, which come into force on June 26, would allow it to use years of personal posts, private images or online tracking data for its AI technology, Reuters said.
NOYB has already filed several complaints against Meta and other Big Tech companies over alleged breaches of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which threatens fines up to 4% of a company's total global turnover for violations.
Meta has cited a legitimate interest for using users' data to train and develop its generative AI models and other AI tools, which can be shared with third parties.
NOYB founder Max Schrems said in a statement that Europe's top court had already ruled on the issue in 2021.
"The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has already made it clear that Meta has no 'legitimate interest' to override users' right to data protection when it comes to advertising," he said.
"Yet the company is trying to use the same arguments for the training of undefined 'AI technology'. It seems that Meta is once again blatantly ignoring the judgements of the CJEU," Schrems said, adding that opting out was extremely complicated.
"Shifting the responsibility to the user is completely absurd. The law requires Meta to get opt-in consent, not to provide a hidden and misleading opt-out form," Schrems said, adding: "If Meta wants to use your data, they have to ask for your permission. Instead, they made users beg to be excluded".
NOYB asked data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain to launch an urgency procedure because of the imminent changes.

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AI Chatbots Must Learn to Say 'Help!' Says Microsoft Exec

A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California US November 7, 2017. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California US November 7, 2017. (Reuters)
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AI Chatbots Must Learn to Say 'Help!' Says Microsoft Exec

A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California US November 7, 2017. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California US November 7, 2017. (Reuters)

Generative AI tools will save companies lots of time and money, promises Vik Singh, a Microsoft vice president, even if the models must learn to admit when they just don't know what to do.
"Just to be really frank, the thing that's really missing today is that a model doesn't raise its hands and say 'Hey, I'm not sure, I need help,'" Singh told AFP in an interview.
Since last year, Microsoft, Google and their competitors have been rapidly deploying generative AI applications like ChatGPT, which produce all kinds of content on demand and give users the illusion of omniscience.
But despite progress, they still "hallucinate," or invent answers.
This is an important problem for the Copilot executive to solve: Singh's corporate customers can't afford for their AI systems to go off the rails, even occasionally.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, this week said he saw many of his customers increasingly frustrated with the meanderings of Microsoft's Copilot.
Singh insisted that "really smart people" were trying to find ways for a chatbot to admit "when it doesn't know the right answer and to ask for help."
'Real savings'
A more humble model would be no less useful, in Singh's opinion. Even if the model has to turn to a human in 50 percent of cases, that still saves "tons of money."
At one Microsoft client, "every time a new request comes in, they spend $8 to have a customer service rep answer it, so there are real savings to be had, and it's also a better experience for the customer because they get a faster response."
Singh arrived at Microsoft in January and this summer took over as head of the teams developing "Copilot," Microsoft's AI assistant that specializes in sales, accounting and online services.
These applications have the gargantuan task of bringing in revenue and justifying the massive investments in generative AI.
At the height of the AI frenzy, start-ups driving the technology were promising systems so advanced that they would "uplift humanity," in the words of Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, which is mainly funded by Microsoft.
But for the time being, the new technology is mainly used to boost productivity, and hopefully profits.
According to Microsoft, Copilot can do research for salespeople, freeing up time to call customers. Lumen, a telecom company, "saves around $50 million a year" doing this, said Singh.
Singh's teams are working on integrating Copilot directly into the tech giant's software and making it more autonomous.
"Let's say I'm a sales rep and I have a customer call," suggested the executive. Two weeks later, the model can "nudge the rep to go follow up, or better, just go and automatically send the email on the rep's behalf because it's been approved to do so."
'First inning'
In other words, before finding a solution to global warming, AI is expected to rid humanity of boring, repetitive chores.
"We're in the first inning," Singh said. "A lot of these things are productivity based, but they obviously have huge benefits."
Will all these productivity gains translate into job losses?
Leaders of large firms, such as K Krithivasan, boss of Indian IT giant TCS, have declared that generative AI will all but wipe out call centers.
But Singh, like many Silicon Valley executives, is counting on technology to make humans more creative and even create new jobs.
He pointed to his experience at Yahoo in 2008, when a dozen editors chose the articles for the home page.
"We came up with the idea of using AI to optimize this process, and some people asked 'Oh my God, what's going to happen to the employees?'" said Singh.
The automated system made it possible to renew content more quickly, thereby increasing the number of clicks on links but also the need for new articles.
"In the end," said the executive, "we had to recruit more editors."