I want you to take a moment and consider this – Google logs everything you post on the internet. Yes, you read that right. Your harmless public posts, comments, tweets – nothing escapes the discerning eyes of the tech titan. In a recent amendment to their privacy policy, they have been quite candid about it: Google is using your comments, your information, to bolster their artificial intelligence tools. A matter of convenience or a threat to privacy?
This shocking revelation has sounded alarm bells in the tech world and has raised new privacy concerns. The previous policy, as we all know, stated that publicly available information is collected only to train “language models” for tools like Google Translate. An innocent enough endeavor, one might think. But the recent amendment to this user policy speaks volumes about the direction the tech behemoth is headed.
Rumor has it, the Silicon Valley colossus is now extracting user data to improve the Bard AI system. For those not in the know, Bard is Google’s AI chatbot that launched after a series of delays, a few months after OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Bard quickly caught up with its competitor, raising questions about how exactly it achieved this feat so swiftly.
Many are speculating that the new amendment to Google’s user policy, now focused on data collection for AI models, might have played a role. Going forward, Google will archive and read all public comments. Some of these will be stored for chatbot training. Yes, your casual comments might be feeding an AI’s learning process.
The tech giant’s new policy states: “Google uses information to improve our services and develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the general public.” But are these advancements really benefiting the public, or are they merely fueling the tech titan’s AI ambitions?
If you’re still harboring doubts about Google’s aggressive AI plans, consider this: The company also recently announced a new AI-powered search system called the Search Generative Experience (SGE) as part of a new AI product line. They are not hiding their future AI plans, hinting at more AI products in the pipeline for systems like shopping, Google Lens features, and even text-to-music generators.
But not everyone’s pleased with these plans. The data mining policy has already led to a class action lawsuit. OpenAI was accused of pilfering “basically all data that can be exchanged on the internet” without consent or compensation. Legal waters remain murky for Google’s policy change as the courts grapple with the emerging copyright challenges for AI technologies.
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It’s not just the courts that are taking notice; even social media platforms are responding. Following the fiasco, Twitter and Reddit have made sweeping changes to limit bots’ access to their platforms. Twitter CEO Elon Musk cited “extreme levels of data mining and system manipulation” as the reason behind this decision.
In response, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has issued a warning to its employees about the security risks of using chatbots. At the same time, they are launching their own AI security framework to protect users from AI cyberthreats. An ironic situation indeed.
In the grand scheme of things, these developments seem to be taking us on a slippery slope. As AI technologies progress at a breakneck speed, it is essential that we consider the long-term implications of these advancements. Are we willing to sacrifice our privacy for the sake of convenience?
Google did not immediately respond to the Epoch Times’ request for comment. We might never know the full extent of their plans. But one thing is certain – our online presence is not as private as we’d like to believe. With every comment we post, we might just be adding another brick to the towering edifice of AI.
Wake up, world! Our voices are being logged, archived, and used for a purpose we might not fully understand or agree with. But it’s not too late. It’s time to ask the tough questions, demand answers, and safeguard our rights in the digital age.
