AI feature turned on by default worries users; Dropbox responds to concerns.

Edited the title to what the article has now.

  • lessthanluigi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    7 months ago

    On a side note, I love that article image that they used. The contrast it’s trying to portray is so chef’s kiss

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    … enabled-by-default…

    … shares your Dropbox data with OpenAI …

    … an experimental AI-powered search feature. …

    … user data [IS] shared with third-party AI partners…

    This would be more than enough reason for me to cancel and delete my account if I were still a customer.

    If you can’t trust a company with your data, then you can’t trust the company at all.

    Why do companies have to be so opaque with things? If they really wanted users to try some experimental, data-sharing feature, offer it to them as an opt-in beta feature and pay them for being a guinea pig.

    Consent with compensation is way better than non-consent with zero transparency.

    • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      This should be justification enough for any enterprise company using Dropbox to dump them overboard

    • squidspinachfootball@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      I only wish you could manage files in the backend without going through the web GUI. So slow having to manually upload everything through there.

  • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    How unsurprising, a headline that technically doesn’t lie, but also gives a completely misleading impression. At least it has been fixed since: the current, accurate one is “Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used”

    Because your files only get sent to the AI search service if you use the AI search feature, which it tells you will send the one specific file you are asking the AI to analyze to OpenAi. Which, you know… Duh?

    The third-party AI toggle is only turned on to give all eligible customers the opportunity to view our new AI features and functionality, like Dropbox AI. It does not enable customers to use these features without notice. Any features that use third-party AI offer disclosure of third-party use, and link to settings that they can manage. Only after a customer sees the third-party AI transparency banner and chooses to proceed with asking a question about a file, will that file be sent to a third-party to generate answers. Our customers are still in control of when and how they use these features

    • radix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      It’s not in any of the articles, but in dropbox forums:

      The Third-Party AI features are not available to everyone yet. The features are in alpha and are only available to customers on Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Business, Business Plus, and some customers on Dropbox Standard and Advanced.

      If you’re on a Basic, Plus or Family account, or you’re part of one of the other groups that don’t yet have access, the Third-Party AI features won’t be available to you.

      • paraphrand@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        7 months ago

        Cool, so we have to just keep thinking about it and checking in to turn it off. Great way to combat a wave of people opting out.

        • cyd@lemmy.worldEnglish
          01·
          7 months ago

          By the time it appears, it will have been “on” for some nonzero duration before you switch it off, so I guess they could already have irreversibly vacuumed up your existing data…

    • AnomalousBit@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      Peak comedy is someone believing convicted felon Kim Dotcom is going to treat your data or privacy with an ounce of respect.

      • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶@lemmy.nzEnglish
        0·
        7 months ago

        Reductionist. He is a ‘felon’ because he hosted a service that was used heavily for piracy. Not because he was robbing banks or shooting people.

          • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶@lemmy.nzEnglish
            0·
            7 months ago

            Had no idea about earlier charges.

            Article with sources that goes into much more detail: https://web.archive.org/web/20230115112142/https://www.wired.com/2012/01/kim-dotcom/

            Some hilarious highlights:

            He bought stolen phone card account information from American hackers. After setting up premium toll chat lines in Hong Kong and in the Caribbean, he used a “war dialer” program to call the lines using the stolen card numbers—ringing up €61,000 in ill-gained profits.

            In 1998, he was convicted of 11 counts of computer fraud, 10 counts of data espionage, and an assortment of other charges. He received a two-year suspended sentence—because, at just 20, he was declared “under age” at the time the crimes were committed.

            In January 2001, LetsBuyIt was close to bankruptcy. Schmitz bought 375,000 euros in the company’s shares — and then announced he was preparing to invest an additional 50 million Euros. The news hit the market, and the stock price of LetsBuyIt surged. Schmitz cashed out, making a profit of €1.5 million.