Holy hell guys, did you all just read the headline and run to the comment section?
enabled by default means you can see the feature and interact with it if you choose to do so
when you interact with it, it explains it needs to send this file to OpenAI. Of course it does, that's how it knows what you're asking of it. You are prompted to choose to use this feature
if you choose not to interact with it, nothing has changed, nothing has been sent anywhere
if you really don't want to look at it anymore you can turn it off, which is nice. A lot of companies drop stuff like this and you're stuck with it whether you like it or not
... an experimental AI-powered search feature. ...
... user data [IS] shared with third-party AI partners...
This would be more than enough reason for me to cancel and delete my account if I were still a customer.
If you can't trust a company with your data, then you can't trust the company at all.
Why do companies have to be so opaque with things? If they really wanted users to try some experimental, data-sharing feature, offer it to them as an opt-in beta feature and pay them for being a guinea pig.
Consent with compensation is way better than non-consent with zero transparency.
How unsurprising, a headline that technically doesn't lie, but also gives a completely misleading impression. At least it has been fixed since: the current, accurate one is "Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used"
Because your files only get sent to the AI search service if you use the AI search feature, which it tells you will send the one specific file you are asking the AI to analyze to OpenAi. Which, you know... Duh?
The third-party AI toggle is only turned on to give all eligible customers the opportunity to view our new AI features and functionality, like Dropbox AI. It does not enable customers to use these features without notice. Any features that use third-party AI offer disclosure of third-party use, and link to settings that they can manage. Only after a customer sees the third-party AI transparency banner and chooses to proceed with asking a question about a file, will that file be sent to a third-party to generate answers. Our customers are still in control of when and how they use these features
In its FAQ, Dropbox contradicts this claim, saying, "We won’t let our third-party partners train their models on our user data without consent."
In July, the company announced an AI-powered feature called Dash that allows AI models to perform universal searches across platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft Outlook.
Still, multiple Ars Technica staff who had no knowledge of the Dropbox AI alpha found the setting enabled by default when they checked.
It also says, "Only the content relevant to an explicit request or command is sent to our third-party AI partners to generate an answer, summary, or transcript."
Log into your Dropbox account on a desktop web browser, then click your profile photo > Settings > Third-party AI.
On that page, click the switch beside "Use artificial intelligence (AI) from third-party partners so you can work faster in Dropbox" to toggle it into the "Off" position.
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Hey I was thinking about cloud backups. I gotta encrypt important files then if dropbox is gonna have AI go through them at will. My alternative was just copying stuff to a hard drive and shoving it in a safety deposit box...