ZOOM SAYS IT ISN'T TRAINING AI ON CALLS WITHOUT CONSENT. BUT OTHER DATA IS FAIR GAME

An update to Zoom’s terms of service is raising alarm bells on social media, with users claiming it reveals the videoconferencing company is now tapping their online doctor visits and virtual happy hours to train artificial intelligence models.

“Zoom terms of service now require you to allow AI to train on ALL your data — audio, facial recognition, private conversations — unconditionally and irrevocably, with no opt out,” read one widely-shared tweet this week that has since been deleted. “Don’t try to negotiate with our new overlords.”

The company quickly responded with a blog post stressing that it “will not use audio, video, or chat customer content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent,” and adding a line to the terms to make this clearer.

Online privacy experts say that this policy is now accurately reflected in the document. However, the terms do still allow Zoom to train AI on other data, such as how customers behave — and they question how much choice some meeting participants will have to opt out if, say, their boss decides otherwise.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Zoom’s terms of service give the company permission to use all customer data, including private conversations, for training artificial intelligence, with no ability to opt out.

THE FACTS: That is not accurate, at least now that Zoom has added language to the terms to make its policy clearer, experts say.