Microsoft's OneDrive Introduces AI-Powered Facial Recognition with Controversial Limitations
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Microsoft OneDrive Limits How Often You Can Adjust Facial-Recognition Settings
(Credit: Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Microsoft has been experimenting with facial-recognition tech in OneDrive to help you group and search your photos by person, but it's limiting
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Microsoft previews People grouping in OneDrive photos
Microsoft's OneDrive is increasing the creepiness quotient by using AI to spot faces in photos and group images accordingly. Don't worry, it can be turned off - three times a year. This writer has been enrolled in a OneDrive feature on mobile to group photos by people. We're not alone - others
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Preview users have noticed OneDrive's AI-driven face recognition setting is opt-out, and can only be turned off 'three times a year'
Microsoft told Slashdot "privacy is built into all Microsoft OneDrive experiences," but those protective of their biometrics may disagree. Is AI the future, or just an ecologically ruinous, dangerously huge financial bubble? That's hard to say, but it's certainly a part of Microsoft's future; on
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Microsoft adds AI facial recognition to OneDrive, can only be disabled three times per year
Microsoft has rolled out an update for OneDrive that added AI facial recognition to the digital storage service, specifically for photos. However, the feature reportedly can only be disabled three times per year. The discovery comes from Slashdot, which discovered Microsoft's warning after
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Microsoft has rolled out a new AI-driven facial recognition feature for OneDrive, raising privacy concerns due to its opt-out nature and a puzzling restriction on disabling the feature.
Microsoft Introduces AI-Powered Facial Recognition in OneDrive
Microsoft has introduced a new AI-powered facial recognition feature within its OneDrive cloud storage service. This functionality, currently in preview, allows the AI to identify and group faces in users' photos, aiming to simplify photo organization and search by individuals
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. This feature mirrors capabilities already present in services like Google Photos and Apple Photos, which have offered similar face grouping for several years1
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Source: TweakTown
Privacy Concerns and User Control Limitations
The rollout has immediately sparked privacy concerns, primarily because the feature is enabled by default for early access users, making it an opt-out rather than an opt-in system
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. Further escalating the controversy is an unusual restriction: users are permitted to toggle the facial recognition setting on or off only three times within a calendar year1
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. Microsoft has not yet provided a clear justification for this strict limitation, prompting widespread discussion and expert analysis regarding user autonomy over personal data.
Source: PC Gamer
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Microsoft's Assurances and Public Reaction
Despite these concerns, Microsoft has issued statements addressing data privacy. The company asserts that face groupings are private to the user and not shared publicly, even if photos are made available. Moreover, Microsoft claims it does not utilize facial scans or biometric data derived from this feature to train or enhance its underlying AI models
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. If a user disables the feature, Microsoft has committed to permanently deleting all associated facial grouping data within 30 days1
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Source: The Register
However, privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, continue to emphasize the importance of opt-in consent for such features. Thorin Klosowski from EFF highlighted, "Any feature related to privacy really should be opt-in and companies should provide clear documentation so its users can understand the risks and benefits to make that choice for themselves"
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. The ongoing debate underscores the broader challenges in balancing AI innovation with robust user privacy protections.References
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