It turns out that LinkedIn was using user data to train AI without consent



LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, is one of the world's largest business-focused social networks, with over 1 billion users worldwide at the time of writing. It has been discovered that LinkedIn has been using user data to train a generative AI without the consent of users.

Control whether LinkedIn uses your data to train the generative AI models used to create content on LinkedIn | LinkedIn Help

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a6278444



LinkedIn Is Quietly Training AI on Your Data—Here's How to Stop It | PCMag
https://www.pcmag.com/news/linkedin-is-quietly-training-ai-on-your-data-heres-how-to-stop-it

How to stop LinkedIn from training AI on your data | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/how-to-stop-linkedin-from-training-ai-on-your-data/

In mid-September 2024, LinkedIn quietly published a help page titled 'Control whether LinkedIn uses your data to train the generative AI models used to create content on LinkedIn.'

This page states that LinkedIn uses generative AI for features such as writing assistant, and that user data is used to train generative AI developed by LinkedIn and its affiliates. The data used by LinkedIn includes user profiles and posted content, and users can control whether or not to allow the use of their data. The 'affiliates' mentioned here refer to companies owned by Microsoft.



This setting is limited to training the AI used to generate content, and does not apply to the development of AI used for other purposes, such as models used for personalization, security, reliability, or fraud prevention on LinkedIn. In addition, even if user data is not used to train the generative AI, data may still be used when the AI generates content.



Users can choose whether or not to use their user data for AI training by selecting 'Data Privacy' from the 'Settings' screen and opening 'Data for Improving Generative AI.' This option is on by default, so it seems that many users had their data used for AI training without realizing it.

In response to an inquiry from overseas media Ars Technica, a LinkedIn spokesperson said, 'People can choose to opt out, but people use LinkedIn for work and networking, and generative AI is part of how we help professionals change.' They argued that having generative AI's use of user data on by default benefits all users.

In

a Q&A on its help page , LinkedIn said, 'Opting out will prevent LinkedIn and its affiliates from using your personal data or LinkedIn content to train models in the future, but will not affect any training that has already been conducted.' At the time of writing, the data of users living in the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) , and Switzerland was not used to train the generative AI.



Technology media PCMag points out that as of September 18, nearly a week after the page was published, LinkedIn's page terms, user agreement, privacy policy, and copyright policy did not include the words 'AI' or 'artificial intelligence.'

After this story was reported in various media outlets, LinkedIn announced an update to its terms of service, adding language about training generative AI to its privacy policy .

LinkedIn Terms of Service Updates
https://jp.linkedin.com/blog/member/trust-and-safety/updates-to-our-terms-of-service-2024



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