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Slack is under fire for its AI training policy, which requires users to email the company to opt out of data usage. The privacy policy is confusing and does not clearly specify the extent of data usage for training AI models. Despite claims of user data control, Slack's terms of service raise concerns about privacy and transparency.

Slack under attack over sneaky AI training policy

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Slack is going to train AI on your private conversations. Will you opt out?

Slack is going to train AI on your private conversations. Will you opt out?

I don’t know what company wouldn’t want to block this from happening. That’s actually crazy!

I sent them an email asking to opt out and this is the explanation I got back:
<blockquote>
Thank you for reaching out to Slack support. Your opt-out request has been completed.
 
For clarity, Slack has platform-level machine learning models for things like channel and emoji recommendations and search results. We do not build or train these models in such a way that they could learn, memorize, or be able to reproduce some part of customer data. Our published policies cover those here (<a href="https://slack.com/trust/data-management/privacy-principles" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://slack.com/trust/data-management/privacy-principles</a>), and as shared above your opt out request has been processed.
 
Slack AI is a separately purchased add-on that uses Large Language Models (LLMs) but does not train those LLMs on customer data. Slack AI uses LLMs hosted directly within Slack’s AWS infrastructure, so that customer data remains in-house and is not shared with any LLM provider. This ensures that Customer Data stays in that organization’s control and exclusively for that organization’s use. You can read more about how we’ve built Slack AI to be secure and private here: <a href="https://slack.engineering/how-we-built-slack-ai-to-be-secure-and-private/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://slack.engineering/how-we-built-slack-ai-to-be-secure-and-private/</a>.
 
Kind regards,
Jason
</blockquote>

I would, but i also like to see the the training goes with my language. The Macedonian language is written in Cyrillic but we mostly type using the Latin alphabet. will it effect the its ability to understand the words and the meaning. Lots of times we use tow Latin letters to represent one Cyrillic, for example ‘sh’ -&gt; Ш, but if you are feeling lazy you could just write ‘s’ and anyone speaking the language would understand with no problem.

It seems that we have some work to do, considering that we are in the age of AI. I believe that companies should take measures to address this, as it’s important for everyone to acknowledge the changes happening around us. Have you looked into the GPT-4o model? I’m curious about how potentially dangerous it could be for those who are not familiar with using AI, such as our parents. Do you share the same concern?

Slack is already an outdated tool, the only reasons that someone would still use it is because of legacy data and data security. Now, I don’t see why any company would choose Slack over the alternatives.