Automattic’s AI data handling
With the current rise of the AI in every corner of the web, it seems there are some troubling developments affecting our chosen CMS, WordPress. The recent headlines seem to imply that Automattic have sold out entirely – though this is not quite true.
While it will not affect those of our sites which are self-hosted, and those which use Jetpack, it does affect the sites hosted on .com as well as tumblr. A small bit of good news is that wordpress.com users change the settings: More Control Over the Content You Share in order to opt out.
disappointing developments
Automattic are stating that they consider AI an interesting and exciting development (which I personally can’t quite agree with). They are aiming to inform people and highlight the details of what they are doing in their AI Guidelines. I am relieved to see that they are trying to be transparent about this, and that we don’t need to worry about our self-hosted sites. However, the option of sharing our data on their platforms should be opt-in, in my humble opinion.
No matter what software, platform or site, I believe that we should always have a choice. When updates change how our data is treated/processed, or how we use the available/familiar functions – we should be not only be informed but given a choice. It’s great that things move forward – but major updates should always be opt-in. This means an introduction to what will change while offering the choice ~ which in turn will make for informed decisions. There’ll be people who won’t mind sharing their content, even if it is for AI training purposes. And then there’ll be others who would object. Offer us all a choice and being clear and open about what will happen and how it will be implemented will go a long way in gaining or keeping trust.