What happens to all that information you’re entering into popular new AI tools?
Would you ever let someone you don’t know listen into your private conversations with your doctor or significant other? Would you let them sell little snippets of what they heard to someone else? This is, in a nutshell, what third party trackers do; they watch what you do online and then sell that information to someone else that wants to sell you something.
As more people use generative AI services like ChatGPT, or even Bing Chat and Google Bard, the safety and ethics of it all comes into question. When millions of people go to a website to ask questions, generate text for cover letters or essays, write and even debug code, you have to wonder: What happens to all that information that is entered into these tools and what role, if any, do data brokers have in all this?
The good news is that OpenAI has yet to allow third-party tracking in ChatGPT. « OpenAI is refreshingly simple in the sense that it is safe, » says Schmetz. « They don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder while you are chatting with ChatGPT. »
« The only thing the user has to worry about is that they can use your data for training, so whatever you write is being used by OpenAI, » he adds. This is clearly stated in the company’s privacy policy, though you do have the option to opt out of data sharing by simply filling out a Google Form from OpenAI.
If you don’t opt out, Schmetz advises you to « be careful what you say. »
It’s worth heeding Schmetz’s warning.
