Clarifai has deleted approximately 3 million photos obtained from OkCupid, along with any AI models trained on that data, following findings tied to a U.S. regulatory investigation.
Data Shared For AI Training Without Proper Disclosure
According to reporting by Reuters and details from the Federal Trade Commission, Clarifai requested access to OkCupid user data in 2014. At the time, some OkCupid executives had invested in the AI company.
OkCupid provided user-uploaded images along with demographic and location data. The FTC said this data sharing conflicted with OkCupid’s own privacy policies, which did not permit such use.
Court documents cited an email from Clarifai CEO Matthew Zeiler to OkCupid co-founder Maxwell Krohn referencing the platform’s “huge amount of awesome data.”
Investigation Triggered Years After Initial Data Use
Although the data exchange occurred in 2014, the FTC began investigating in 2019 after a report by The New York Times revealed that Clarifai used OkCupid images to train systems capable of estimating attributes such as age, sex, and race from facial images.
The delay between the initial activity and the investigation reflects the timeline of public disclosure rather than the timing of the data use itself.
Settlement Reached Without Admission Of Liability
The FTC and OkCupid’s parent company, Match Group, reached a settlement last month. OkCupid and Match Group did not admit wrongdoing or acknowledge the allegations that they misled users.
However, Clarifai’s confirmation that it deleted the data and related models indicates that the company had access to the images referenced in the investigation.
The FTC also alleged that OkCupid and Match Group concealed the data-sharing arrangement and attempted to obstruct the investigation over several years.
Restrictions Imposed On Future Data Practices
As part of the settlement, the FTC stated that OkCupid and Match Group are permanently prohibited from misrepresenting how they collect or share user data, or from assisting others in doing so.
The agency does not have authority to impose fines for first-time violations of this nature but can enforce restrictions on future conduct.
Featured image credits: Flickr
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.