Automattic's Data Sharing with AI Sparks Privacy Backlash

The Brief: Automattic, the titan behind Tumblr and WordPress, is on the brink of finalizing agreements to funnel AI training materials from user posts to OpenAI and Midjourney, setting off a storm of user discontent.

In Depth:

From the annals of Tumblr, spanning 2014 to 2023, Automattic harvested content for an inaugural data transfer, inadvertently ensnaring private posts in the process.

In response, the firm is on the verge of unveiling a mechanism for users to opt out, though the fate of data previously disseminated remains a question mark.

This development trails in the wake of similar arrangements by entities such as Reddit and Shutterstock, as behemoths in AI seek to bolster their capabilities with vast reserves of human-generated data.

The Essence: The rush for human-crafted content to fuel AI models underscores a burgeoning reality: user data is the new frontier of value. As individuals reel from the revelation that their contributions are being commandeered sans consent, violating personal boundaries, the uproar is poised to escalate.