Latest news with #thirdparties
Digital Trends
4 days ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
WeTransfer backlash highlights need for smarter AI practices
A recent update to WeTransfer's terms of service caused consternation after some of its customers feared that it meant content from files uploaded to the popular file-sharing service would automatically be used to train AI models. But the Netherlands-based company insisted on Tuesday that this is not the case, saying in a statement that it 'does not sell user content to third parties,' and nor does it 'use AI in connection with customer content.' Recommended Videos The updated terms of service that prompted the criticism was sent to its customers earlier this month and marked as going into effect on August 8, 2025. The text stated that WeTransfer could use content shared on its service for purposes 'including to improve performance of machine learning models that enhance our content moderation process.' The new wording was widely interpreted as granting WeTransfer the right to use customer-uploaded files to train AI models. Many users reacting strongly, accusing WeTransfer of giving itself the right to share or sell customer content to AI companies hungry for fresh data to train their AI technologies. On Tuesday, WeTransfer tried to reassure its users by saying in a statement that 'your content is always your content,' and that 'we don't use machine learning or any form of AI to process content shared via WeTransfer.' It continued: 'The passage that caught most people's eye was initially updated to include the possibility of using AI to improve content moderation and further enhance our measures to prevent the distribution of illegal or harmful content on the WeTransfer platform. Such a feature hasn't been built or used in practice, but it was under consideration for the future.' It said that it had removed the mention of machine learning from its terms, 'as it's not something WeTransfer uses in connection with customer content and may have caused some apprehension.' The revised section now states: 'You hereby grant us a royalty-free license to use your Content for the purposes of operating, developing, and improving the Service, all in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.' The controversial episode highlights the growing sensitivity among people toward having their content used for AI model training. Artists, musicians, and writers, for example, have been protesting strongly against AI companies using their work to train AI models without asking for permission or offering compensation. The troubling episode is also a lesson for other online companies to be clearer about how they're handling user data, as misunderstandings over AI can, as we've seen, quickly escalate into a major backlash.
Bloomberg
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Elon, Inc: Can Musk's ‘America Party' Dream Come True?
On this week's episode, David Papadopoulos invites Bloomberg political reporter Nancy Cook and Bloomberg Businessweek's Max Chafkin to the studio to discuss Elon Musk's latest idea—the creation of the 'America Party.' Third parties have famously been losing propositions in American politics, and Cook questions if the distractible multibillionaire even has the patience to handle the paperwork required to register with the Federal Election Commission. And then there's his constant string of controversies. Chafkin wonders if there's a reliable base out there hungry to support the party of a man who called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, initiated a feud with President Donald Trump (still popular with much of Musk's theoretical rank and file) and whose 'DOGE' initiative on Trump's behalf is accused by some of worsening the catastrophic consequences of the recent flooding in Texas. Nevertheless, history shows just how disruptive third parties can be when the margins are slim, as they are now. Cook sees a small slice of the electorate, 'tech bros who are like, 'oh, right, we should cut Social Security, we should shrink the federal government',' who could possibly be converted by the right wing business mogul. Later in the show, Papadopoulos and Chafkin are joined by Bloomberg stocks reporter Esha Dey to discuss the latest gyrations of the world's most prominent meme stock, Tesla. The trio discuss the challenges facing the electric car company and dissect a recent eyebrow-raising note from analyst Dan Ives. The prominent Tesla bull presents a simple answer to Tesla's woes: give Elon more money.
The Sun
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Trump ‘saddened' to watch Musk ‘go off the rails' after he vowed to launch political party prez says will cause ‘chaos'
DONALD Trump says he is "saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails'" after the Tesla CEO announced he would launch a new political party on Friday. The US president slammed Musk's new 'America Party', arguing third political parties never succeed in the US and only create "complete and total disruption and chaos". It comes after Musk cited a poll in which he asked whether respondents 'want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system' that has dominated US politics for two centuries.
