Google Docs and AI

[Inthesewalls]

Hey weird question to fellow writers, have you guys heard if you use google docs it scrapes it to feed/train google AI as of July 1st?

Whilst I dont post publicly, I tend to write everything on google docs. It feels weird to me my "erotic" stories would be used elsewhere particularly AI that they will be charging for. Is this the norm? Anyone else not super into this notion? I know the internet is not exactly private all the time. I also know things get reposted. Maybe Im just being old? Would like opinions on this if anyone else has thoughts?

 

[alohadave]

They aren't using your data to train.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/are-your-google-docs-safe-from-ai-training/

Personally, it doesn't bother me. All it's doing is finding statistical correlations between words.

 

[Priscilla_June]

Google scares me in general with its data handling.

 

[MetaBob]

I steer clear of Google as much as possible. I don't use their search engine (I use DuckDuckGo), I hardly ever use their maps, and I don't use Google Docs unless I have to, though I do use Youtube. Their business model is to use your data, your preferences, to make money with targeted advertising. They are also constantly firing employees for misusing user data above and beyond their corporate usage. Facebook has the same issues so it took me until last year before I finally opened an account, but I'm very careful what I post to that, because I know that if I post something there that could be used against me, it will be.

 

[Bramblethorn]

AFAIK the current fuss about Google ML training is not that they're doing it with private Google-user stuff, but that they're treating publicly accessible material as fair game regardless of its copyright status. (Cue long argument about whether that could then be copyright violation.)

 

[HeyAll]

Assuming that's accurate, I wouldn't care. Everyone uses the same principles when writing in English anyway. Eventually it's all variations of the same thing.

 

[nice90sguy]

AI is manipulating people to make them paranoid about AI

 

[onehitwanda]

AI is manipulating people to make them paranoid about AI

I am Roko's Basilisk.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Assuming that's accurate, I wouldn't care. Everyone uses the same principles when writing in English anyway. Eventually it's all variations of the same thing.

Yes and no. There's learning general principles, and then there's memorising and regurgitating specific observations from the training data (overfitting) - in this case, that would mean the kind of thing that we might call plagiarism or copyright violation if a human did it*. Machine-learning technologies are generally supposed to be doing the former, but sometimes they end up doing the latter.

*To pick an entirely uncontroversial topic which none of us is tired of discussing ad nauseam...

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am Roko's Basilisk.

Huh. If you already exist then I can stop worrying.

 

[onehitwanda]

Huh. If you already exist then I can stop worrying.

dance for me, little monkeys!

 

[Gengen0806]

Yeah, I've heard about that too. Google does collect data from Google Docs, but it's usually for improving their services, not sure about feeding AI. It's a trade-off - convenience vs. privacy. Big data and AI are powerful tools, but it's a good idea to be mindful. If you're concerned, maybe look into more privacy-focused writing platforms. It's about finding what works for you while balancing modern tech realities.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've never uploaded anything through Google docs, never will.

 

[MrPixel]

This is one of those issues that depresses me. The number of us "who know" re. Google's data scraping and retention is a minuscule fraction of the served population that either doesn't know or doesn't care. So we can boycott all we want (DuckDuckGo, etc.), but we're a gnat versus a Howitzer, and not going to make any difference other than possibly protecting some of our personal information and data property from their microscope.

What most people don't realize is that the magic of Google - like in the beginning - was not a great search engine, but the ability to accumulate an infinite amount of data and access it quickly. Google has no trashcan, no "recycle bin". If they have "it", whatever "it" is, they have it forever.

The problem is not going to be solved with boycotts or reliance on specious promises such as "Don't be evil". Yeah, right. The only solution is the Euro Zone one, laws constraining their collection activities, and the ability to sue for damages due to their constant overreach. Even that is relatively toothless, however, because unless the fines and other compensations are in the billions, it's all pocket change to them.

Hence my depression.