LinkedIn starts training its AI on user data, but you can opt out

For now, European LinkedIn users are exempt from AI training.

The Microsoft-owned social network LinkedIn has updated its Terms of Service and added some new information regarding its policy.

On Wednesday, comapny’s General counsel Blake Lawit said in a blogpost that the updates clarify how the company handles information shared with it, “including by training AI models used for generative AI.”

With this new policy update, the company made the data of its users in the US and many other regions eligible for training its AI models by default without asking permission.

In its LinkedIn and generative AI FAQ, the company claims that its AI models may be trained by LinkedIn or another provider. For example, some of the company’s models are provided by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service.

The company says that users' data may be used for certain generative AI tools, such writing suggestions.

Those who want to opt out have to do it manually by going to the “Data Privacy” section, choosing “Data for Generative AI Improvement member setting,” and then toggling off the "Use my data for training content creation AI models" option.

However, opting out will not affect the training that has already taken place.

For now, LinkedIn does not train AI on data from their European Union users due to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as the UK.

While Lawit says that LinkedIn is “committed to providing clarity about our practices and keeping you in control of the information you entrust with us,” some fresh reports contradict the company’s claims.

According to a 404 Media report, LinkedIn has already started training its AI on its users data just before announcing its policy update.

LinkedIn's policy changes come a week after Meta publicly admitted that it used users' data to train its AI models. Meta trained its AI on users’ Facebook and Instagram public posts starting in 2007.

Meta, like LinkedIn, made its users’ data eligible for training without asking for permission. However, contrary to LinkedIn, Meta didn’t provide opt out options for the US, Australia, and some other regions, though Meta trains its data only on public posts.

Brazilians and Europeans are the only users who can opt out of Meta publicly training its AI with their data.

Brazilians were given such a possibility by their court, while Europeans can opt out thanks to the GDPR, even though Meta made the opt-out option for Europeans unnecessarily difficult.

While GDPR protects European users' personal data, other regulatory acts, such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to provide better opportunities for smaller countries to compete with big tech, face criticism.