Opting out of AI training and features with 9+ tech companies: “How to say no to our AI overlords”

3 useful resources from the Seattle Times, Ravit Dotan, and Wired on opting out of AI on Apple, Google, Meta (Facebook & Instagram), Microsoft, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Reddit, Tiktok, Substack, & more.

We’ve seen lots of buzz lately about AI and tech companies using our data for AI, and enabling AI-based features we may not want. Want to learn more about this, or want to opt yourself out? Here are three practical guides on what they’re doing and how to opt out of it. (Edit 2024-10-27: link to a third guide has been added below.)

Photo by monicore on Pexels

Opting out of AI training and features with Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple

The Oct. 20, 2024 Seattle Times article “How to say no to our AI overlords” has some solid, useful advice. I recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want major tech companies to:

• push AI-based features on them, or

• use their data for training their AI tools.

“It helps to know how to opt out. After I contacted Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, they offered steps to turn off their AI tools or data collection, where possible. I’ll walk you through the steps.”

Thanks to

Pascal Hetzscholdt

for raising awareness about this on LinkedIn and Substack!

The article "How to Say No to Our AI Overlords" discusses the increasing prevalence of AI technologies from major companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple in everyday consumer products.

What about AI and tech companies other than Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple?

TechBetter | Ravit Dotan

has us covered for even more companies. See her Oct. 21, 2024 article “Who trains on your data?”. It covers X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Substack:

Who trains on your data? Auditing X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Substack

Note that for X/Twitter, a new AI training policy comes into force Nov. 15 (more on that from Ravit here on LinkedIn). So if you care about this, be sure you opt out before the deadline. I might just kill off my dormant X/Twitter account; I’m not writing there any more. Or even reading there - the “signal to noise ratio” is way too low to be worthwhile.

2024-10-27 bonus edit - here’s a third article that covers opt-out for even more companies: “Adobe, Amazon: AWS, Figma, Google Gemini, Grammarly, Grok AI (X), HubSpot, LinkedIn, OpenAI: ChatGPT and Dall-E, Perplexity, Quora, Rev, Slack, Squarespace, Substack, Tumblr, WordPress, and Your Website”. (Thanks to Kirsten Huntley for sharing this on LinkedIn!)

“How To Stop Your Data From Being Used To Train AI”, by Matt Burgess and Reece Rogers / Wired, 2024-10-12.