Clarifai, an AI platform, has reportedly deleted 3 million photos obtained from OkCupid to train its facial recognition AI, as per Reuters. The company also erased any models trained with that data. Following an FTC investigation, it was revealed that Clarifai had requested data from OkCupid in 2014, whose executives had invested in Clarifai. OkCupid provided user-uploaded photos along with demographic and location data, contrary to its privacy policies.
“We’re collecting data now and just realized that OKCupid must have a HUGE amount of awesome data for this,” wrote Clarifai CEO Matthew Zeiler to OkCupid co-founder Maxwell Krohn, as cited in court documents. Though the incident occurred twelve years ago, the FTC only opened an investigation in 2019 following a New York Times article that mentioned Clarifai using OkCupid images to develop an AI tool estimating age, sex, and race from faces.
The FTC and OkCupid, a Match Group-owned entity, settled the lawsuit last month. OkCupid and Match Group did not admit to allegations of deceiving users by breaching privacy policies, but Clarifai’s data deletion confirms that it accessed the photos. The FTC claimed that since 2014, Match Group and OkCupid had concealed this conduct and obstructed investigation efforts.
OkCupid and Clarifai did not respond to comment requests from TechCrunch. While the FTC cannot fine companies for first-time offenses of this nature, it announced that OkCupid and Match are permanently restricted from misrepresenting or aiding in misrepresentations regarding data collection and sharing practices. Thus, OkCupid and Match are banned from activities already prohibited by the FTC.