Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has announced that it will start training its generative AI models using public content from adult users of its social media platforms in the UK. This decision follows positive engagement with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), it added.
“This means that our generative AI models will reflect British culture, history, and idiom, and that UK companies and institutions will be able to utilise the latest technology,” the company said in a blog.
“We’re building AI at Meta to reflect the diverse communities around the world and we look forward to launching it in more countries and languages later this year,”it added.
Meta says that it has also incorporated feedback from the ICO to simplify the process for users to object to their data being used. Meta’s implementation of the “Legitimate Interests” legal basis has been supported by the ICO, providing a clear path for Meta to introduce its AI features in the UK.
It is to be noted that earlier this year, Meta hit a roadblock after the new tech rules in the UK and European Union (EU) barred it from utilising users’ data to train its AI models.
“This clarity and certainty will help us bring AI at Meta products to the UK much sooner. We welcome the ICO’s guidance supporting Meta’s implementation of the legal basis of ‘Legitimate Interests’, which can be a valid legal basis for using certain first party data to train generative AI models for our AI at Meta features and experiences,” the company added.
“This means that our generative AI models will reflect British culture, history, and idiom, and that UK companies and institutions will be able to utilise the latest technology,” the company said in a blog.
“We’re building AI at Meta to reflect the diverse communities around the world and we look forward to launching it in more countries and languages later this year,”it added.
Meta says that it has also incorporated feedback from the ICO to simplify the process for users to object to their data being used. Meta’s implementation of the “Legitimate Interests” legal basis has been supported by the ICO, providing a clear path for Meta to introduce its AI features in the UK.
It is to be noted that earlier this year, Meta hit a roadblock after the new tech rules in the UK and European Union (EU) barred it from utilising users’ data to train its AI models.
“This clarity and certainty will help us bring AI at Meta products to the UK much sooner. We welcome the ICO’s guidance supporting Meta’s implementation of the legal basis of ‘Legitimate Interests’, which can be a valid legal basis for using certain first party data to train generative AI models for our AI at Meta features and experiences,” the company added.
What and whose data will be used to train AI models
Meta emphasised that it will only use the publicly available data – such as public posts, comments, photos, and captions from adult users – to train its AI models.
“We do not use people’s private messages with friends and family to train for AI at Meta, and we do not use information from accounts of people in the UK under the age of 18,” the company added.
Starting next week, UK-based adult users will receive in-app notifications explaining the AI training process and providing access to an objection form. Those who have already objected will not be contacted, and all existing objection forms will be honoured, the company added.
