Be aware: Do you know your phone's gallery images are being use to train AI by Meta AI?

Meta is in the news again for privacy scandals. Till now, we were certain Meta is using our publicly shared information, e.g., pictures posted on Facebook and Instagram, to train its artificial intelligence model (Meta AI), but the concern is now escalated. According to the latest news outlets, Meta is now requesting full access to your camera roll of the phone, i.e., even the photos of yours that you never even posted on Facebook or Instagram.

According to a TechCrunch report, recently, some Facebook users saw a pop-up asking them to turn on a new feature, "Cloud Processing". At first glance, this feature seems quite beneficial. Facebook says that this will allow it to automatically scan the photos in your camera roll and regularly upload them to Meta's cloud. In return, users will get creative features such as photo collages, event recaps, AI-generated filters, and themed suggestions for occasions like birthdays or graduations.

When you turn on this feature, you allow Meta to analyze even the non-shared private photos on your phone. Meta AI scans the faces, objects, location, date, and other metadata present in these photos. Its purpose is to make its AI model smarter. Meta says that this is an Opt-In feature, that is, it will not turn on without the user's consent, but if we look at Facebook's past record, it becomes difficult to trust people's privacy.

Meta has already admitted that it has used all the public data uploaded on Facebook and Instagram since 2007 to train its generative AI models. But the question is, what is the definition of “public”? And who were considered adults in the data since 2007? Meta never gave a clear answer to this.

Now that the new Cloud Processing feature has arrived, it is also not clear whether these private and unpublished photos of users will also be used in AI training or not. Talking to The Verge, Meta's AI team clearly said that at present such photos are not being used in AI training, but they did not answer the question of what will happen in the future.

If you do not want your private photos to go to Meta's cloud, then you can disable the Cloud Processing feature by going to the settings. Meta says that if a user turns it off, then his unpublished photos will be deleted from the cloud within 30 days.

In this era of AI, tech companies are testing how much data they can collect from users. On one hand, this new feature of Meta has been given in the name of convenience, but on the other hand it is blurring the boundaries of our privacy. Earlier, where posting photos was a conscious decision of the user, now that process is happening quietly in the background. The invisible eyes of AI can now keep an eye on your private moments as well.