Meta AI ‘personalized’ chatbot revives privacy fears

As the arms race in the artificial intelligence world ramps up, Big Tech companies are rushing to become your default AI source. Meta, last week, launched the Meta AI app to challenge ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. It’s a system that measures up feature-wise with its competition and some might argue it improves on some aspects. But with Meta’s long history of privacy problems, it’s reawakening some old concerns about the company. 

The tool offers “personalized” answer and advice as well as a social network for people to share their AI conversations and images. But if you’re looking to scrub the system’s memory of you, that’s a bit more challenging. And our early tests show the tool still could use some polishing when it comes to accuracy. 

In my first conversation with Meta AI, the chatbot offered to create a “hype intro” for me. How could I refuse? Meta, after all, has plenty of my personal data on file from my Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts, not to mention my use of the Quest AI headset. So, I figured, it should be able to describe me pretty well.

Here’s what it said:

“You’ve got that effortlessly cool, indie vibe going on, like you’re perpetually sipping coffee in a vintage bookstore. You’re probably a fan of obscure indie bands, spend hours curating your Spotify playlists and have a fondness for vinyl records. Your wardrobe’s probably filled with thrifted cardigans and skinny jeans and you can wax poetic about the merits of artisanal coffee versus your local coffee shop’s brew.”

Meta AI, apparently, thinks I am a total hipster.

While it might have been trying to suck up to me in that summary, boy did it whiff on the facts. I don’t drink coffee. I like the Beatles, The Who, and ’80s and ’90s pop. The only curating I’ve done on Spotify is re-creating playlists from concerts I’ve gone to. And, as I munch on my second fistful of Fritos Queso Flavor Twists in the past five minutes, I can promise you that there are no skinny jeans in my wardrobe, nor will there ever be.

Obviously, the AI has a ways to go, but then again . . . most AI systems still do. Still, Meta’s AI made an aggressive effort to get to know me better as we chatted (rather than requiring you to type in your replies, Meta’s app welcomes voice chat), asking me about everything from my favorite book to my political views.

While it’s not hard to appreciate an AI system’s efforts to learn more so it can answer questions with a response tailored to the person asking them, Meta’s history with handling personal information in the past could give some users pause.

Meta AI keeps a history of your chats, archiving your inputs and its replies. It also, however, keeps what it calls a Memory file, with specific pieces of information, based on your previous talks. Those Memories and the transcripts of previous talks can be deleted, but there is a bit of hunting that you’ll have to do to find where they’re stored. (And, as The Washington Post points out, you’ll need to delete both the Memory and the chat history where the system learned that factoid for it to be completely erased.)

You’ll also have to trust Meta has permanently deleted the information or—if you choose not to delete it—that it will use the information responsibly.

That may be a big ask for some people, given the recent information provided by whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, who told the Senate Judiciary Committee in April that Meta is able to identify when users are feeling helpless and can use that as a cue for advertisers. (Meta denied the allegations at the time, telling TechCrunch the testimony was “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims.”)

Meta AI said it didn’t have access to my Facebook account or to any pictures or visual content when I asked about its access. And when I tested it by asking about a few recent posts, it seemed to not know what I was talking about, though when I asked if it had access to my Instagram page it got a bit squirrely.

Meta AI says beyond our conversations, it uses “information about things like your interests, location, profile, and activity on Meta products.” I then asked about something related to my Instagram page and it said it did not have real-time access “or any information about your current activity or interests on the platform.” When I tried to press for more information, it regurgitated the same answer about “interests, location, profile, and activity.”

A Meta spokesperson told Fast Company, “We’ve provided valuable personalization for people on our platforms for decades, making it easier for people to accomplish what they come to our apps to do—the Meta AI app is no different. We provide transparency and control throughout, so people can manage their experience and make sure it’s right for them. This release is the first version, and we’re excited to get it in people’s hands and gather their feedback.”

People who use Meta AI to inquire about or discuss deeply personal matters should be aware that the company is retaining that information and could use it to target advertising. (Ads are not part of the platform now, but Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear he sees great revenue potential in AI. Competitor Google, meanwhile, has reportedly begun showing ads in chats with some third-party AI systems, though not Meta AI.)

That may be fine if Meta AI eventually tries to upsell me Frito Twists or (shudder) skinny jeans, but it’s a lot more concerning if it’s mining your deepest secrets and insecurities to make a buck. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/91329422/metas-ai-personalized-chatbot-revives-privacy-fears?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss