Jessica Chastain and Julianne Moore are among a group of celebrities who’ve fallen for a recent scam message relating to Meta.
The statement the celebrities have been sharing begins with an “attorney message” advising Meta – the parent company of Instagram and Facebook – that they don’t have permission to use public images for the purposes of ‘scraping’ data for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
It relates to the company reportedly using public Facebook and Instagram photos and posts of its users to train AI, something that is referred to as “scraping” of content.
Meta paused the launch of its AI product in Europe in July due to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy rules, and as a result of GDPR law. As per The Guardian, Meta was ordered to “stop training its large language model on data from European users on privacy concerns.” The company also gave European users an opt-out option, but some other countries, like Australia, currently don’t have this option.
The statement that celebrities have been sharing reads: “Goodbye Meta AI. Please note an attorney has advised us to put this on, failure to do so may result in legal consequences. As Meta is now a public entity all members must post a similar statement. If you do not post at least once it will be assumed you are okay with them using your information and photos. I do not give Meta or anyone else permission to use any of my personal data, profile information or photos.”
Celebrities who reposted the statement included Julianne Moore, Jessica Chastain, Cynthia Erivo, Sarah Paulson, Luke Evans, James McAvoy, Ashley Tisdale, and Lily Aldridge (as per Just Jared).
However, as Snopes noted, these types of notices will not stop Meta using your content and aren’t legally binding.
The outlet wrote: “Facebook users can’t retroactively negate the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up. They also can’t alter or contradict any new privacy or copyright terms instituted by Facebook simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their account.”
Melinda Claybaugh, Meta’s director of privacy policy, has said it will only be using the posts of those who chose to make them public, so not private ones only visible to people you have friended (as per The Guardian). It also said it would only use those of people aged over 18. Claybaugh said the opt-out option in Europe was “in response to a very specific legal frame” only.
The use of AI in art meanwhile continues to prove controversial, with Nick Cave recently describing it as “unbelievably disturbing”, and arguing it will have a “humiliating effect” on the creative industries.
Tears For Fears, meanwhile, addressed why they chose to use AI in the design of their new album cover ‘Songs For A Nervous Planet’, saying it was “just one of the many tools used in the creative process”.
Peter Hook recently claimed that every song that had been written with the help of AI has been “shit”, while Daniel Bedingfield has proclaimed AI to be the future of music, questioning the “neo-luddites” who are trying to resist it.
Director Guillermo del Toro also had his say on the use of AI in art recently, claiming it can do “semi-compelling screensavers” and “that’s essentially that”.