Waymo has 'no plans' to sell ads to riders based on camera data

Rumors circulated today that robotaxi company Waymo might use data from vehicles' interior cameras to train AI and sell targeted ads to riders. However, the company has tried to quell concerns, insisting that it won't be targeting ads to passengers. The situation arose after researcher and engineer Jane Manchun Wong discovered an unreleased version of Waymo's privacy policy that suggested the robotaxi company could start using data from its vehicles to train generative AI. The draft policy has language allowing customers to opt out of Waymo "using your personal information (including interior camera data associated with your identity) for training GAI." Wong's discovery also suggested that Waymo could use that camera footage to sell personalized ads to riders. Later in the day, The Verge obtained comments on this unreleased privacy policy from Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina. "Waymo's [machine learning] systems are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there ... Read full article.