Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: Waymo has 'no plans' to sell ads to riders based on camera data

Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2025 22:53:40 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo...

Rumors circulated today that robotaxi company Waymo might use data from
vehicles' interior cameras to train AI and sell targeted ads to riders.
However, the company has tried to quell concerns, insisting that it won't be
targeting ads to passengers.

The situation arose after researcher and engineer Jane Manchun Wong
discovered an unreleased version of Waymo's privacy policy that suggested the
robotaxi company could start using data from its vehicles to train generative
AI. The draft policy has language allowing customers to opt out of Waymo
"using your personal information (including interior camera data associated
with your identity) for training GAI." Wong's discovery also suggested that
Waymo could use that camera footage to sell personalized ads to riders.

Later in the day, The Verge obtained comments on this unreleased privacy
policy from Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina. "Waymo's [machine learning]
systems are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and
there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads," she said. Ilina said
the version found by Wong featured "placeholder text that doesnΓÇÖt
accurately reflect the featureΓÇÖs purpose" and noted that the feature was
still in development. It "will not introduce any changes to WaymoΓÇÖs Privacy
Policy, but rather will offer riders an opportunity to opt out of data
collection for ML training purposes."

Hopefully Waymo holds to those statements. Privacy and security are huge
concerns as AI companies try to feed their models as much information as
possible. Waymo is owned by Alphabet and Google is developing its own AI
assistant, Gemini, as well as other AI projects with its DeepMind division.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo...
riders-based-on-camera-data-225340265.html?src=rss

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