In response to criticism that it trained its artificial intelligence (AI) models on client calls, Zoom revised its terms of service.
The company emphasised that chats, audio, and video were never utilised for AI without permission in a blog post.
The video calling app took action after consumers were concerned about the firm's terms of service changes in March that enabled AI training.
The company claimed the adjustments were made to increase transparency.
One of the new AI-powered features that Zoom introduced in June allows customers to recap meetings without needing to record the full event. A free trial of the features was available.
However, certain experts cautioned that the initial phrasing of the terms of service could have given Zoom access to more user information than necessary, including information from customer calls.
Before the terms of service were amended, data privacy expert Robert Bateman noted in an interview with the BBC that "the terms appeared to give the service provider a lot of freedom to use the data generated by its users for many different purposes."
Although there was some uncertainty over the potential risks, he stated that "alarm bells should ring when you encounter broad contractual provisions like these."
The statement "Zoom will not use audio, video, or chat customer content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent" has been added to Zoom's terms of service as of late Monday.
Human-like actions
AI applications are computer programmes or tools that can carry out certain, intelligent tasks that are typically handled by people. They are trained to "learn" and mimic patterns of human-like behaviour using enormous amounts of data and algorithms.
However, the widespread collection of online data to train the models supporting AI applications has sparked concerns over the potential inclusion of private, sensitive, or copyrighted data in their datasets, leading to lawsuits.
In response to the increasing excitement surrounding AI technology, Zoom, like many other tech companies, has increased its attention on AI products this year.
However, the Open Rights Group, a group that advocates for online privacy, has expressed concern that Zoom's choice to provide the capabilities as a free trial and urge users to "opt in" has made the adjustments "more alarming."
"While Zoom states that customers will be asked for consent to use their data to train AI models, Zoom's privacy policy is opaque and it is not clear that this is the case," policy manager for data protection Abby Burke stated before the latest update to Zoom's terms.
A Zoom representative reaffirmed on Monday that consumers choose whether to allow generative AI features and, separately, whether to share customer content with Zoom for "product improvement purposes".
Screenshots from Monday's blog post demonstrated warning messages that users who join meetings employing AI technologies may see. Users are given the choice to accept the training usage or exit the meeting in these notifications.
The features are still trial-only, but according to Zoom's chief product officer Smita Hashim, account owners and administrators can choose to enable them. Those who do so will "be presented with a transparent consent process for training our AI models using your customer content."
