User data for sale? WordPress and Tumblr will sell user content to AI companies

Digital Desk: Users of WordPress and Tumblr may soon discover that their data is being used for training artificial intelligence (AI) models, according to a recent report. WordPress’s parent company, Automattic, is alleged to have entered agreements with OpenAI and Midjourney to sell user-generated content for AI training. Concerns about data privacy and the ethics of sharing user data with third parties have been raised.

 

However, the company has not yet fully disclosed the specifics of the deal. Automattic is stressing to users that they will have the choice to opt out of their data being employed to train AI at any time.

 

The report also raises concerns about the inclusion of private and deleted user content in the compiled data, raising questions about data safety infrastructure and ethical policies. Automattic responded, stating its commitment to a free and open web, emphasizing individual choice, and acknowledging the transformative role of AI in content creation and consumption. Automattic is set to disclose a new feature for the same, the report suggests.

 

The company emphasised in a blog post how this latest feature will "give users more control" over their content.

 

"We’re doing a number of things at WordPress.com and Tumblr to give you more control over the content you’ve created," the blog post says, as it speaks about launching a setting to "discourage crawling by AI companies."

 

In a February 23 internal document, an employee sought assurance that the data partner would respect users' opt-out decisions. The response from Andrew Spittle, Automattic's Head of AI, was somewhat vague, stating that partners would be asked to delete and remove content from future training runs, assuming they wouldn't gain much by retaining it.

 

The report concludes by highlighting that, while third-party data sharing is not new, making such deals without user awareness could expose private information to companies training AI systems. As the story unfolds, questions about transparency, data ethics, and user consent continue to surround these reported agreements.