![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/DUBLIN-IRELAND-JULY-7-2024_-LinkedIn-offices-in-Dublin-Ireland.-Dublin-is-home-to-LinkedIns-European-headquarters-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat is especially alarming is that it isn\u2019t clear whether private conversations on LinkedIn are being used to train this AI platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBased on what we know now, and how the privacy terms of LinkedIn are currently worded, it isn’t clear at this point,\u201d Adams said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe vague reason that they’ve given is to improve the LinkedIn experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause of this vague approach that they’ve taken, we don’t know what’s actually being used. And when it comes to these AI models that are pretty advanced, it’s very difficult for them to explain the different ways that it’s being used as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed out that this move isn\u2019t exclusive to LinkedIn, with many other companies across the globe also using user data to train AI platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s one of the areas that many companies are struggling with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do we embrace this technology in a way that’s really innovative, that’s going to move humanity forward, but also in a way that our stakeholders \u2013 which includes the users of LinkedIn \u2013 can trust at the end of the day?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Adams said that the difference is that the way LinkedIn approached this change is likely does not comply with the POPI Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It specifically violates people’s rights to know how their data is used, to understand where it goes, and what data is being utilised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther platforms have specifically labelled the AI systems that they’re using.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor example, with meta, it would be Meta AI. With Google, it’s Gemini. With Open AI, it’s Chat GPT.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo there’s the expectation. It’s a very clear and upfront expectation,\u201d Adams said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Users are aware that when they use these platforms, their inputs will be used to train and improve its AI model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut when you have a platform that is not generally expected to be using an AI model in this way, the consumer, the user, needs to know upfront.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Users need to know be aware when there is a change in terms, but in this case, it “wasn’t released until after this was discovered.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there are also monetary and intellectual property issues, one of the biggest concerns is that people haven\u2019t been given the ability to make the choice themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s more about autonomy and control and the ability to make decisions for oneself,\u201d Adams explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe challenge that we have is that the setting was turned on by default.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that not only do people not necessarily know this is happening, but if they want to opt out, they need to \u201cput in the effort to unsubscribe themselves from the AI model with an action that most people won’t even know to take.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRead: Hiring is down in South Africa \u2013 but these jobs are still in demand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LinkedIn is using users’ data to train its AI platforms, even though they never agreed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":796831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[8556,19780,1301,7576,18372],"class_list":["post-796829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-ai","tag-data-breach","tag-linkedin","tag-popi-act","tag-the-money-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796829"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796867,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796829\/revisions\/796867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}