How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI

1. LinkedIn posts may have been used in training AI models, sparking concerns about user privacy and data consent. While some platforms offer opt-out options, LinkedIn's stance on data usage for AI remains unclear.
2. ChatGPT, powered by vast internet data, often includes information scraped from public content, raising issues of transparency. Efforts to regulate data usage for AI training are ongoing, but user control is still limited.
3. Gemini, Google’s chatbot, allows users to opt out of human review for AI training, though previously selected data may be retained for up to three years.
4.  Slack uses user interactions to improve its machine-learning capabilities, but opting out requires an administrator to email Slack with a specific request.

There’s a Limit

Many AI companies have already scraped web content, making it likely that anything you've posted is in their systems. They remain secretive about their data sources, leaving AI training processes largely opaque and difficult to understand.

How to Opt-Out of AI Training?

LinkedIn

Users of the career networking website were surprised to learn in September that their data was potentially being used to train AI models. “At the end of the day, people want that edge in their careers, and what our gen-AI services do is help give them that assist,” says Eleanor Crum, a spokesperson for LinkedIn.

Steps to Opt-Out of LinkedIn Data Being Used to Train AI:

1. Log In to LinkedIn: Access your LinkedIn account through the web or app.
2. Go to Privacy Settings: Click on your profile picture, navigate to Settings & Privacy, and select the Data Privacy section.
3. Manage Data Usage: Look for options related to how LinkedIn uses your data for AI or third-party purposes.
4. Opt-Out of Data Sharing: Disable any toggles or options that allow LinkedIn to share or use your data for AI training.
5. Review Third-Party Permissions: Check for integrations or apps connected to your account and revoke permissions if necessary.
6. Stay Updated: Regularly revisit privacy settings, as LinkedIn may update policies or features that affect data usage.

OpenAI: ChatGPT and Dall-E

People reveal all sorts of personal information while using a chatbot. OpenAI provides some options for what happens to what you say to ChatGPT — including allowing its future AI models not to be trained on the content. “We give users a number of easily accessible ways to control their data, including self-service tools to access, export, and delete personal information through ChatGPT. That includes easily accessible options to opt out from the use of their content to train models,” says Taya Christianson, an OpenAI spokesperson. (The options vary slightly depending on your account type, and data from enterprise customers is not used to train models).

OpenAI also says if you have a “high volume” of images hosted online that you want removed from training data, then it may be “more efficient” to add GPTBot to the robots.txt file of the website where the images are hosted.

Traditionally a website’s robots.txt file — a simple text file that usually sits at websitename.com/robots.txt — has been used to tell search engines, and others, whether they can include your pages in their results. It can now also be used to tell AI crawlers not to scrape what you have published — and AI companies have said they’ll honor this arrangement.

Steps to Opt-Out of OpenAI Data Being Used for Training:

For ChatGPT Web Users:

1. Log In to ChatGPT: Access your ChatGPT account on the web.
2. Go to Settings: Click on your profile icon and select Settings from the dropdown menu.
3. Navigate to Data Controls: In the settings menu, locate and click on Data Controls.
4. Disable Data Sharing: Uncheck the option Improve the model for everyone to opt out of having your conversations used for training.

For DALL-E 3 Image Generator:

1. Access the Opt-Out Form: Locate the opt-out form for DALL-E 3 on OpenAI's help pages or website.
2. Provide Personal Details: Fill in your name and email address.
3. Confirm Image Ownership: Indicate whether you own the image rights or are submitting on behalf of a company.
4. Describe the Image: Provide details of the image(s) you want to exclude from training datasets.
5. Upload Images (Optional): Attach the images you want excluded, if necessary.
6. Submit the Form: Complete the form and send it to OpenAI for processing.

Google Gemini

For users of Google’s chatbot, Gemini, conversations may sometimes be selected for human review to improve the AI model. Opting out is simple, though. Open up Gemini in your browser, click on Activity, and select the Turn Off drop-down menu. Here you can just turn off the Gemini Apps Activity, or you can opt out as well as delete your conversation data. While this does mean in most cases that future chats won’t be seen for human review, already selected data is not erased through this process. According to Google’s privacy hub for Gemini, these chats may stick around for three years.

Steps to Turn Off Gemini Apps Activity and Manage Conversation Data:

1. Open Gemini in Your Browser:

• Go to the Gemini website and log in to your account if required.

2. Access the Activity Settings:

• Click on the Activity tab or section within the Gemini interface.

3. Locate the Drop-Down Menu:

• Find the Turn Off drop-down menu within the Activity settings.

4. Disable Gemini Apps Activity:

• From the drop-down menu, choose the option to Turn Off Gemini Apps Activity.

5. Optional - Delete Conversation Data:

• If you wish to delete your conversation data in addition to opting out:
• Select the option to Delete Conversation Data within the same menu.

6. Understand Limitations:

• Note that opting out will stop future chats from being eligible for human review.
• However, already selected data will remain stored for up to three years, as per Google’s privacy policy.

7. Confirm Changes:

• Save or confirm your settings to apply the changes.

For more information, refer to the privacy section of the Gemini app.

Slack

All of those random Slack messages at work might be used by the company to train its models as well. “Slack has used machine learning in its product for many years. This includes platform-level machine-learning models for things like channel and emoji recommendations,” says Jackie Rocca, a vice president of product at Slack who’s focused on AI.

Even though the company does not use customer data to train a large language model for its Slack AI product, Slack may use your interactions to improve the software’s machine-learning capabilities. This could include information like your messages, content, and files, says Slack’s privacy page.

The only real way to opt out is to have your administrator email Slack at feedback@slack.com. The message must have the subject line “Slack Global model opt-out request” and include your organization’s URL. Slack doesn’t provide a timeline for how long the opt-out process takes, but it should send you a confirmation email after it’s complete.

Steps to Opt-Out of Slack’s Global Model Training:

1. Contact Your Slack Administrator:

• Reach out to your Slack workspace administrator. Only they can submit the opt-out request.

2. Draft an Email to Slack:

• The administrator should compose an email addressed to feedback@slack.com.

3. Set the Subject Line:

• Use the exact subject line: "Slack Global model opt-out request" to ensure the request is processed correctly.

4. Include the Organization’s URL:

• In the email body, include the URL of your Slack organization (e.g., yourworkspace.slack.com).

5. Send the Email:

• Submit the email to Slack at the provided address.

6. Wait for Confirmation:

• Slack will send a confirmation email once the opt-out process is completed. The timeline for this process is not specified by Slack.

7. Verify Changes:

• Ensure that your organization has received confirmation and follow up if necessary to confirm the opt-out request was processed.

For more details, refer to Slack’s privacy policy.

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