LinkedIn Is Harvesting Your Data — Opts-in Users by Default, Bypassing Consent
LinkedIn is using user data without express consent. This may include external model training, such as Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. | Credit: Smith Collection/ Gado / Getty Images.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn is scraping user data to train AI models.
- The demand for more data to train models is growing rapidly.
- LinkedIn will not train AI models with data from users in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
LinkedIn has become the latest major tech company to train its AI models with user data without permission.
Blake Lawit, SVP and General Counsel at LinkedIn confirmed in a Wednesday, Sept. 18 blog post that LinkedIn uses user data to “train AI models used for content generation.”
LinkedIn Scraping User Data for AI Training
The Microsoft-owned networking platform also updated its Privacy Policy to confirm that it could use personal data to “develop and train AI models.”
The platform’s policy, which was updated a week ago, also stated that user data could be used for external model training, such as Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service.
LinkedIn said it seeks to minimize personal data in the data sets it uses to train its models. However, LinkedIn claims that users’ personal data could still be used in “certain GenAI features on LinkedIn.”
Users Opted in by Default
LinkedIn has opted users into AI training by default to reach as wide a reach as possible. Luckily, it is easy to opt-out. To do so users can go to the data privacy section in settings and turn off the “use my data for training content creation AI models” button.
The platform noted that it will not train AI models with data from users in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland.
CCN contacted LinkedIn for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Big Tech and AI Training
As the AI race continues between Big Tech, the demand for more data to train models is growing rapidly.
Several companies have faced lawsuits for allegedly scraping user data without permission for AI training purposes.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has faced a myriad of accusations surrounding its data scraping across the internet.
Most recently, leading parent forum MumsNet announced it was filing a lawsuit against the AI giant – alleging it has scraped billions of words from the site without permission.
In a post on the forum , Founder and CEO of MumsNet Justine Roberts said: “The large language models are building models like ChatGPT to provide the answers to any and all prospective questions that will mean we’ll no longer need to go elsewhere for solutions.” adding “they’re building those models with scraped content from the websites they are poised to replace.”
Throughout its criticism, OpenAI has maintained that its practices align with existing laws, but the lack of transparency around the specifics of its data sources has fueled further scrutiny and regulatory attention.
