Slashdot: BlueSky Proposes ‘New Standard’ for When Scraping Data for AI Training

Source URL: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/03/17/0434237/bluesky-proposes-new-standard-for-when-scraping-data-for-ai-training?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: BlueSky Proposes ‘New Standard’ for When Scraping Data for AI Training

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AI Summary and Description: Yes

Summary: The article discusses Bluesky’s proposal for user data consent regarding scraping for generative AI training and archiving. This initiative signifies a potential shift in how user data privacy is managed in the context of AI, highlighting a growing concern over data privacy in the AI development landscape.

Detailed Description: The article highlights significant developments around user data privacy in the context of generative AI. Key points include:

– **Proposal Publication**: Bluesky, a social network, released a proposal on GitHub that allows users to specify their preferences regarding the scraping of their posts and data for purposes like generative AI training and public archiving.
– **User Reaction**: Following the proposal’s announcement, there was notable concern among users, as the initiative appeared to contradict Bluesky’s previous stance on data selling and AI training using user-generated content.
– **CEO’s Commentary**: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber emphasized that generative AI companies are already scraping public data from various sources, including Bluesky itself, which classifies all user-generated content as public.
– **New Standard for Data Scraping**: The proposal aims to establish a “new standard” to regulate data scraping that aligns with user preferences, akin to the robots.txt file used on websites to manage permissions for web crawlers.
– **User Consent Mechanism**: If users indicate a desire for their data not to be used in AI training, the proposal suggests that data scrapers should respect these instructions either during web scraping activities or bulk transfers executed through the protocol.
– **Related Discussions**: The article also touches upon a conversation on Threads, where users expressed the desire for more interactive AI capabilities, specifically wanting to dialogue with algorithms about content preferences.

**Implications for Professionals**:
– The initiative marks a significant step toward better privacy management and user control over personal data in AI training processes.
– Security and compliance professionals should closely monitor these developments, as they could influence future regulations on user data usage, particularly within generative AI contexts.
– Companies developing generative AI will need to consider compliance with user preferences regarding data scraping and implement mechanisms for honoring these choices, potentially impacting their data sourcing strategies.

This proposal by Bluesky is important because it highlights an emerging paradigm in which user consent is integral to the data collection practices of AI developers, marking a critical intersection between AI technology, user privacy, and legal compliance.