We can ask Meta Ai. But we are not sure that the answer will be exact. To the question “What are you going to do with my data?” “, Sent as a classic Whatsapp message, the assistant swears to us:” Don’t worry, I respect confidentiality! ».
Meta AI is gradually imposed on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger users. This artificial intelligence takes on the appearance of a small blue and purple circle and appears in the search bar. It can also be requested in an existing conversation with one or more other users.
“The promises only engage those who believe them”
Mark Zuckerberg’s company assures that “only messages shared with this service can be read by Meta AI, which cannot read any other message from your personal discussions”. Meta also assures that interactions with its AI “will not be used to improve AI”.
“The promises are only engaging those who believe them,” quips Hélène Lebon, a lawyer whose activity is devoted to the protection of personal data. “I tend to be wary of Meta. When Facebook bought WhatsApp, the leaders had sworn on the head of all their mothers that there would be no crossing of data … and they did it! In 2017, the European Commission imposed a fine of 110 million euros on Facebook for having “provided inaccurate or distorted information concerning the acquisition of WhatsApp”. Friday, Tiktok was also sentenced to a fine of 530 million euros by the EU for having transferred European data to China (which the platform has always disputed and which it ended up recognizing).
-The Facebook or Instagram parent company has updated its conditions of use, at the end of April: publications and public photos posted on Facebook or Instagram will be used to train this artificial intelligence, unless the user completes a form before May 27. The European authorities “are currently collaborating to assess the compliance of the processing of personal data envisaged by Meta,” the CNIL (National Commission for Data Protection said) in a press release. The bodies “exchange in particular on the legality of these practices”.
An option that cannot be uninstalled
“The GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) are testing on many subjects and the authorities run behind, plague Hélène Lebon. The technique goes faster than the legislator. In my opinion, it will not be in conformity: they will discuss for months and nothing will happen before they take a big fine, in three-four years. »»
The Meta AI option cannot be uninstalled. “This raises real questions about user control and digital security,” notes the MEP Slovak Veronika Cifrova Ostrihonova. She seized the European Commission.
With a spectacular cynicism, the director of international communication of WhatsApp assured that it “there is a version of WhatsApp without AI”: “the one where we do not click on the button”.
