Clarifai deletes 3 million photos that OkCupid provided to train facial recognition AI, report says

AI platform Clarifai deleted 3 million user photos obtained from dating app OkCupid, which were used without user consent to train facial recognition models capable of estimating age, sex, and race. The data sharing, which occurred in 2014 at the request of Clarifai's CEO — whose company had received investment from OkCupid executives — violated OkCupid's own privacy policies. The FTC opened an investigation in 2019 following a New York Times exposé, and settled with OkCupid and parent company Match Group in March 2026. While no fines were levied for this first-time offense, OkCupid and Match Group are now permanently prohibited from misrepresenting their data collection and sharing practices.