X DOUBLES DOWN ON AI LEARNING
AI learning On X
Elon Musk’s X platform is in the news (again) and unsurprisingly, the headlines are gloomy. It has transpired that in a recent platform update, AI learning has wriggled its way into X’s Terms and Conditions. There is a lot of speculation and misinterpretation across the web about this update… So let’s break it down.
The Changes
This new change will go into effect on 15th November 2024 and so, at the time of publishing, this update has not yet gone live. The change was first reported in mid October and has since been circulated by popular technology magazines as yet another Elon-Musk-based story. At Siren, we can hardly blame them… Reporting on X as a platform could be a full time profession given the frequency of changes still happening on the channel, more than two years after its acquisition by the tech tycoon.
No Opt Out
Before we dive into what is actually stated in X’s new conditions, it’s important to note that whilst this has not yet come into effect once live, it will not be possible to opt out of this option, at least not at the time of writing. This will be an essential and unavoidable aspect of the channel which users will need to agree with to continue to use their accounts.
The New AI Inclusive T’s and C’s
The news-grabbing headlines at the heart of this story are all due to a couple of very specific phrases within the latest batch of T’s and C’s, which you can read in full here. This new terms of service states:
“You [the user] agree that this license includes the right for us [X] to… analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type”.
What this means is that come November 2024, by using the platform – in any capacity – you are agreeing to let X take any content which you create (whether that is a video, music, piece of art, your tweets and anything else) can be used to help the platform’s AI learn and produce content based on the information you provide by using the platform.
More importantly, this new inclusion of AI within the terms of service means that change is not something which users can opt-out of. By using the platform, you agree to this specific clause.
Selling information
Not only that, but this amendment also gives permission to X to pass on this information to other companies who are free to use this data however they see fit; potentially for a profit.
“…To make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals, including, for example, for improving the Services and the syndication, broadcast, distribution, repost, promotion or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.”
Whilst much of the concern online is rightly focused on these key paragraphs outlining the rise and use of artificial intelligence on a major social network, we also noticed this sneaky – and perhaps worrying – line which has grabbed less attention.
Modifying Your Content
At the bottom of the ‘Content on the Services’ section, a funny little line stood out to us.
‘You understand that we may modify or adapt your Content’
How, you might ask? We are actually a little in the dark here. X does not specify much to help us discern what is meant by ‘modify or adapt’ other than that, in part, this vague statement covers – among other things – the reformatting of your content for use on other media, which could potentially mean turning video content into an image, describing a video rather than showing it or optimizing your content so that it is more accessible on a particular device. However the extent of what is meant by ‘modifying’ your content is not alluded to. With AI generated content quickly becoming a norm, the idea of having user generated content modified by AI (without prior notice to the user) and then distributed both on X and beyond is worrying.
Head over to our blogs page to read more about the evolving situation over on X as well as read more about the latest developments happening in the world of social media.
