Asking the owner of your company’s workspace to send Slack an email is the only option to opt out.
Slack uses user messages, files, and other content to train machine learning models without the users’ explicit authorization. Because participation in the course is voluntary, your personal information will be leaked by default. Adding insult to injury, you will be required to request that the Slack administrator of your business (human resources, IT, etc.) send an email to the company requesting that it cease its actions. (You just can’t handle it on your own.) Welcome to the shadowy side of the current gold rush in artificial intelligence training data.
An executive at DuckBill Group named Corey Quinn discovered the policy in a paragraph that was included in Slack’s Privacy Principles. He then blogged about it on X (the information was obtained via PCMag). The following is an excerpt from the section that states, “In order to develop AI/ML models, our systems analyze Customer Data (such as messages, content, and files) that has been submitted to Slack in addition to Other Information (including usage information) as defined in our Privacy Policy and in your customer agreement.”
The act of opting out requires you to take responsibility for protecting your data in its entirety. As stated in the privacy notice, “In order to opt out, please have your Organization or Workspace Owners or Primary Owner contact our Customer Experience team at feedback@slack.com with the URL of your Workspace or Organization and the subject line ‘Slack Global model opt-out request.'” Your request will be processed, and we will follow up with you once the opt-out procedure has been finished.
I'm sorry Slack, you're doing fucking WHAT with user DMs, messages, files, etc? I'm positive I'm not reading this correctly. pic.twitter.com/6ORZNS2RxC
— Corey Quinn (@QuinnyPig) May 16, 2024
In response to Quinn’s remark on X, the business provided the following response: “To clarify, Slack has platform-level machine-learning models for things like channel and emoji recommendations as well as search results.” Customers are able to opt out of having their data used in the training of those machine learning models that are not generative.
It is not known how long ago the company that is owned by Salesforce accidentally included the tidbit in its terms. If “customers” does not include employees working within a company, then it is, at best, disingenuous to state that consumers have the ability to opt out of receiving certain services. That is something that they need to ask whoever manages Slack access at their company to accomplish, and I am hoping that they will comply with their request.
Slack’s privacy policies are inconsistent, which adds to the confusion that already exists. During the process of constructing Al/ML models or otherwise evaluating Customer Data, Slack is unable to access the content that lies beneath the surface, as stated in there. Several different technical precautions have been taken to ensure that this does not take place. Having said that, the policy regarding the training of machine learning models appears to be in direct opposition to this statement, which leaves a great deal of space for misinterpretation.
Additionally, the webpage that Slack uses to offer its premium generative AI products includes the following text: “Work without concern. Your information belongs to you. The Slack AI is not trained with it in any way. All of the operations are carried out on the safe infrastructure that Slack provides, and they adhere to the same compliance rules as Slack itself.
In this particular instance, the corporation is referring to its premium generative artificial intelligence tools, which are distinct from the machine learning models that it is not obtaining express authorization to train on. On the other hand, as PCMag points out, a statement that implies that all of your data is protected from AI training is, at best, a statement that is extremely misleading, especially considering that the corporation appears to have the ability to pick and choose which AI models that statement covers.
At the time of publication, Engadget had attempted to get in touch with Slack through a variety of channels; however, they had not received a response. When we receive a response, we will update this story.