Slack Faces Criticism For Using Private Data To Train AI Without Clear Opt-Out
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by
Last week, Slack users complained on the social news website Hacker News and on X about the company’s AI training methods, which uses private data without asking for explicit permission and makes it difficult to opt out. The discussions went viral, raising awareness and concerns, and in turn, causing Slack to update its AI privacy principles .
Customers quoted and criticized the company’s requirements to stop sharing data for AI training. “To opt out, please have your Org or Workspace Owners or Primary Owner contact our Customer Experience team at feedback@slack.com with your Workspace/Org URL and the subject line ‘Slack Global model opt-out request.’”
“They want to make it as difficult and painful as possible,” said one user. “My paid workspace opt-out confirmation just came through. One down. Several to go,” said another. Users expressed concern about the use of their private information and their trust in Slack.
The company’s clarification of the use of data in the opt-out email response shared on Hacker News, like only considering data for “machine learning models for things like channel and emoji recommendations and search results,” raised even more debates. “How can anyone in their right mind think building AI for emoji selection is a remotely good use of time?” wrote one user.
After the users’ backlash, Slack shared an announcement about new updates to its AI Privacy Principles, “ Privacy Principles: Search, Learning and Artificial Intelligence. ”
In the document, Slack recognized customers’ concerns and explained it considers “industry-standard, privacy-protective machine learning techniques” and does not train LLM models with customer data. Slack emphasized its data collection is for machine learning models and not generative AI models and assured users that private information was not shared with third parties, ensuring there’s no leak risk across workspaces.
Slack provided details and examples of how it considers machine learning models for features like “Search ranking” to aggregate data and emphasized that they “do not access original message content in DMs, private channels or public channels to make these suggestions.” The company added that it uses LLM models for Slack AI, a separate add-on product that doesn’t use customer data.
However, users’ data to train AI and machine learning algorithms is still set as default. The process quoted and criticized by users remains the same: customers who want to opt out of this program must send an email and explicitly request Slack to stop using their workspace data.
Temu Accused of Breaching EU Online Content Rules
- Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Popular Chinese online retail platform Temu has been accused of potentially violating the EU’s online content law in a complaint filed last week by the Pan-European consumer group Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC).
According to the legal complaint, the business has allegedly breached the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets out requirements and transparency obligations for e-commerce platforms.
In addition to BEUC, 17 of its member organizations, including France, Italy , Germany , and Belgium, have filed similar complaints with their respective DSA regulatory authorities.
The fast-growing online marketplace is facing scrutiny due to its lack of transparency regarding seller information and the employment of manipulative sales techniques, including the criteria used to suggest products to customers.
“Temu, which has over 75 million monthly users in the EU … is rife with manipulative techniques — dark patterns — to get consumers to spend more than they might originally want to, or to complicate the process of closing down their account,” Monique Goyens, director general at BEUC said in a statement.
The consumer group also raised concerns about the quality of products sold on the platform and whether they meet EU product safety rules.
In her statement, Goyens said that products “sold on marketplaces, whether online or offline, whether they are European, American or Chinese, must be safe and comply with European law if they sell to European consumers.”
The retailer, in a statement published by Reuters , said that it adjusts its services in accordance with the local rules and regulations.
“Regarding the BEUC complaint, we take it very seriously and will study it thoroughly. We hope to continue our dialogue with the relevant stakeholders to improve Temu’s service for consumers,” the company said in a statement.
Last month, Politico shared the possibility of Temu being designated as a “very large online platform” (VLOP) under the EU’s new digital act. According to the DSA, VLOPs are online platforms with over 45 million users in the EU and these businesses have to comply with additional transparency, risk assessment, and accountability rules.
Shein, another popular Chinese e-commerce giant, was designated as a VLOP under the new Digital Act in April 2024.
