Meta to use AI chatbot conversations for targeted advertising
Meta announced it will use conversations with its Meta AI chatbot to personalize advertisements across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, effective 16 December. Users reportedly cannot prevent this use of chat data for ad targeting unless they stop using Meta AI entirely, raising privacy concerns among experts.
What happened
Meta announced it will use all conversations and interactions users have with Meta AI to personalize advertisements and content across its platforms, effective 16 December.
The data will include chatbot conversations within Instagram and WhatsApp as well as interactions with voice assistants on Ray-Ban Meta glasses. While Meta states users can adjust content and advertisements in their ad preferences, sources report there will be no way to prevent conversations from being used for ad personalization except by not using Meta AI.
Reported impact
Experts have raised concerns about surveillance and privacy implications of this approach. Meta states it will not use sensitive information such as religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political views, health data, or racial matters for advertising purposes.
Index analysis
Meta's strategy differs from competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. While those companies use conversations to train AI models or amortize cloud investments, Meta is leveraging its core business—advertising—to offset AI spending, with advertising revenue accounting for a 22% increase in second-quarter income.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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