In recent years we have learned to familiarize yourself with the fact that our published photos on Facebook And Instagram can be used by Half To train its artificial intelligence models. However, it seems that the company wants to go far beyond, with the aim of also accessing the unpublished contentas photos and videos in our gallery and not uploaded to the various social profiles.
To reveal it is the well -known portal The Vergewhich has reported as some users of Facebooktrying to publish a story about their profile, they found themselves in front of a pop-up that invited them to activate the “cloud processing”. According to the details in the message, it is a function that allows Half to select photos and videos directly from the smartphone gallery to upload them to a owner cloud.
The purpose of this loading would be to offer various users creative suggestions such as collages, summary or changes to photos through artificial intelligence. All this would be proposed to users on the basis of a theme, such as a birthday, a wedding, a degree or so on, created on the basis of the images in the memory of the smartphone, thus suggesting to the user new content to be published on Facebook.
Once this function has been accepted, the user then grants to Half permission from access unpublished imagesincluding the faces, the shift date, the presence of people or objects, and to keep the data for future uses. All this falls within the new terms of use of Meta Aiin force from 23 June 2024. But what does all this involve, at the level of privacy?
Meta denies using the contents to train the IA
Initially, The Verge he had declared that this apparently harmless function would serve Half To train their artificial intelligence models using personal and non -public contents. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has however denied this visionunderlining that the contents loaded through the “cloud processing” are not used to train their models.
According to spokesman Ryan Daniels, the goal of this function (which appeared to some users on Facebook In the form of test) it is simply improving the proposal for content to be shared, and does not involve the training of real artificial intelligence. The company also insisted on the optional nature of the function: each suggestion remains visible only to the user, unless it is explicitly shared.
However, the question is not so simple: unlike Google Photowhich clearly specifies in terms of use that does not use loaded images To train Gemini, Half It does not clarify if the data collected through this procedure can be used in the future to train their IA model. Questioned directly on the matter, the company has preferred not to answer.
The details on the operation of the cloud are few clear
Another detail to consider is the little transparency in the functioning of this “cloud processing”. Although it is explicit that the function is limited to loading content of the roller no longer old than 30 days, some of the suggestions created – such as those based on events or anniversaries – seem to draw on older images even. The way he works Facebooktherefore, raises several doubts about how much real control has the user, even after accepting an apparently harmless function.
The good news is that it is still possible deactivate completely the “cloud processing” from the settings of Facebook: in this way the system will stop drawing the contents in the smartphone tunnel, and any already uploaded photos and videos will be definitively deleted by the systems of Half After 30 days.
The thin line between “service” and “privacy invasion” is therefore increasingly thin and faded. If in the past the admission of Half to use public content to train artificial intelligence models has generated several controversies, the fact that you start touching too private and unpublished contentarchived only inside the smartphone, radically changes the cards on the table.
The fact that the company has failed to confirm the possibility that this happens in the future is a clear signal that the intentions are there and are questioned. If you are interested in your privacy, therefore, the advice is to deactivate the “cloud processing” from the settings of Facebook. Also because, according to various testimonies on Reddit, this new function is already quite widespread and proposes content and changes without the user being aware of it.
