One of the hottest topics currently trending across the United States is how to protect personal information from being used by tech companies for training artificial intelligence (AI) or for other unwelcome purposes. According to the Washington Post, a recent post on X about how PayPal collects user data for advertising has sparked intense discussions among users over the past month.

Furthermore, LinkedIn faced backlash after it was revealed that the platform utilizes user-posted content to train its AI systems. Some celebrities have also taken to Instagram to express their discontent over Meta’s AI supercomputers using their posts without consent.

Reports suggest several protective measures that individuals can take, including:

★ Opting Out

PayPal allows users to disable the “Personalized Shopping” feature under the data and privacy settings, thus opting out of ads based on their purchasing behavior. However, Meta users cannot prevent their public posts from being used to train AI. Conversations between users and Meta’s AI chatbots on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could also be used for AI training. While users do not have an opt-out option, they can delete their chat history with the bots.

LinkedIn users can turn off the feature that allows their data to be used for AI generation by navigating to the Settings option under their account, then looking for “Data Privacy” settings.

★ Utilizing Privacy-Focused Browsers or Add-Ons

Browsers such as Apple’s Safari, Firefox, Brave, and Tor provide protections against cookie tracking. Consumers can also download the “Privacy Badger” add-on developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to digital privacy.

★ Deleting Unused Apps

Removing infrequently used applications from your phone can enhance privacy. Visiting a company’s website is often more secure than using their mobile app.

★ Reviewing and Adjusting Privacy Settings

Spend five minutes checking your privacy settings. For Google users, you can visit myaccount.google.com, click on “Data & Privacy,” then under “History Settings,” you can turn off “Web & App Activity.”

★ Supporting Stronger Privacy Laws

While there is no federal law in the U.S. protecting data privacy, 19 states have enacted related legislation.

With these steps, individuals can better protect their personal information in a world where data privacy concerns are increasingly at the forefront.