Facebook feeds AI with USERS’ unpublished photos... Private Images at risk

Meta is now training its AI using not just public Facebook and Instagram posts, but also users’ private, unpublished photos. New pop-ups ask users to opt into “cloud processing,” allowing Meta to upload images from your camera roll and analyze faces, dates, and even objects in the pictures. Accepting this means Meta’s AI can “retain and use” that information. Unlike Google, which says it does not use personal Google Photos data for AI, Meta’s terms remain unclear.

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The company admits it’s scraped content since 2007, but won’t specify what counts as “public” or if “cloud-processed” photos are exempt. There’s a way to turn off the setting in Facebook’s options, which removes cloud-stored photos after 30 days. Still, the new feature means users’ private moments can be used for AI, often without them realizing it. Some are already reporting AI suggestions for previously-uploaded images.