ATTN: Third-Party AI is toggled to ON automatically

[ecmoran]

Fellow DropBox Community Members,

If you don't already know this, Third-Party AI is automatically set to "ON" without our permission.
To FIX THIS: Go to your Account Icon > Settings > Third-Party AI and toggle OFF.

Why DropBox thought it was a good idea not to be up front about this change is beyond me. But it's *very shady* and I'm not happy about it! I'm a longtime customer but I know I have other options and will leave if DropBox gets way too cozy with Third-Party AI folks.

Sincerely,

ECM

[NateH]

Was beyond furious today to see that dropbox decided to "partner up" with Open AI to let them into our files. No one asked for this. Open AI has built their entire business on theft, and they tell us that it's fine because they vetted them. Vetted them? How exactly? What possible assurance could they give to justify teaming up with a company like this?  This coming not too long after Dropbox laid off hundreds of staff to a "pivot to AI" And we're supposed to trust them?

They now offer GENERATIVE AI which means that they are willingly using stolen data from elsewhere to make more here. And to top it all off, made everyone on the entire platform OPT IN by default which was not mentioned anywhere and had to be learned from news sites or word of mouth. 

An extra bonus? that "Even if you’ve opted out, any files shared with another person who is using Dropbox AI could still be sent to OpenAI servers." Thats insane. 

If they were serious about data privacy they would never have set the ticker to opt out only. It would have been an opt in option for those interested.

They would also not partner with Open AI - the most notorious company on the planet for data theft. But that would never benefit the AI machine so they and no one else, will ever do this. 

I in no way believe the "promises" by dropbox that it won't share data unless we decide to play with it's cute little AI tools.  I don't believe it will be deleted in 30 days either. All those are fancy lawyer speak to get around the fact that if you train on something. Remember that the line is always it doesn't *technically* store it. AI companies say this all the time in defense of their theft. So it could be trained but then "deleted" and still keep the training data without technically violating this statement. Open AI didn't team up for fun, they want something, and that something is our private data. They need it because they already stole all the public data.

Dropbox:
Our private files are not your personal data to sell- especially when we ALREADY pay you. I work professionally with a number of clients who use dropbox for SENSATIVE NDA files on a regular basis. Game studios use it for file sharing, and on it goes. I had to tell a client today that his whole game assets are at risk because of this move. I had to tell musicians that all their project files and stems are in danger. That is not your "data" to sell to Open AI.

As soon as I find a proper alternative, I'm nuking my account and never looking back. I encourage everyone to do the same because this is a warning shot. This is a total trust violation they have shown you cannot trust them with anything.

[Staab]

Wow. This is AWFUL.

Dropbox was supposed to be secure. That's why I pay $$ for it. My data is not supposed to be read by random third parties that I have no control over.

WTF, Dropbox????!?????

[Cameron P.]

Replying to my own post. I've done alot of reading, and some calming down over the last 18 hours since I learned about this. The good news, I don't *THINK* based upon what i've read, any of our files have been shared with openAI. 

The bad news? I've lost all faith in dropbox, and its ceo. At this point, short of his resignation, then I'm gone never to return. And will gladly join any lawsuit about this issue. It is clear based upon the 2Q & 3Q earnings calls that the current CEO is shilling AI like it is the next crypto. And he is playing to a stock price, not his customers. 

AI has promise, I use it, but it VERY immature to be deployed as quickly as it has. There are clear legal concerns about ownership of the training sets, being able to extract training data from algorithms, and the ownership of data that is "read" by an AI algorithm. This last point is key for those WITH data who want to maybe make use of these tools. How do I protect a shared file from being *learned* by an AI? Defaulting any integration to "on" is bizarre. This isn't a communication problem, this is a direction problem. 

The fact that the CEO of a data management company IS NOT keenly aware and WARY of these risks, is the red flag here. Dropbox's mission should be to protect the data of our digital lives. Rolling out any AI integration right now is just dumb. ESPECIALLY one that dropbox itself can't 100% control or guarantee to its customers how it is used. 

[DBXCommunity]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your feedback and for voicing your concerns.

The third-party AI toggle is only turned on to give eligible customers the opportunity to view our new AI features and functionality, like Dropbox AI. Neither this nor any other setting automatically or passively sends any Dropbox customer data to a third-party AI service.

Dropbox AI won't send data to a third-party AI partner unless you explicitly interact with the AI-powered feature. Customer data isn't used to train third-party AI models. You, our customers, maintain control over the use of our AI features and even can opt out entirely. For more information on how to do so, please see this Help Center article: https://help.dropbox.com/view-edit/dropbox-ai-how-to

We are working on updates to make all of this more clear.

[dimethylhydra]

I'd like to ask that Dropbox end their data sharing agreement with OpenAI that was recently announced, and pledge to never integrate this sort of program again. Having a feature where user data is shared with a third party be opted-into by default for users who had no idea it was happening is a massive breach of trust for al of us, not just paid users currently selected to be alpha participants, and I doubt that many Dropbox customers would have trusted the company with their data if they knew it was going to be used in this way. This is the kind of decision that immediately makes me lose faith in Dropbox as a platform, and unless this ends before any wider rollout, I'm personally planning to switch to a new cloud service provider, and I've seen others express similar sentiments.

[dimalique]

I'm already looking at other options. If they were working in our best interest, it would have been an opt-in instead of an opt-out. None of us can trust Dropbox anymore, but I'm not sure there's a service out there that isn't screwing us over for profit. I've had my work as an author and artist scraped, and now I have to worry about my storage company giving faithless bad actors access to my info. "Vetted" my a**. If they did, they would never have looked in unethical OpenAI's direction. I am seething, and that will never go away.

[ahjota]

Thank you for the updates. I want to note that yesterday when I checked I had the ability to toggle Third-Party AI access on my Dropbox Family account. Today that option is gone.

I assume this is a mistake that was corrected, since I've read in other parts of Community that Family accounts do not have access to Dropbox AI in alpha.

As the manager for a Family account I do not want my family's documents sent to OpenAI, and I can't be expected to have to educate my family on this.

[boredultimatum]

As someone that's never partook in legal action I hope this results in a lawsuit. Unconsented sharing of private data with a third party is at least on par with a data breach, especially when that data is on a paid service for private storage. And as someone who works in tech I'm seriously considering rolling a custom storage solution using async key encrypted files on AWS/GCP backend. Only reason not to is convenience.

[NateH]

That you made everyone opt in automatically shows your hand. Every single one of these services that do that, do so to allow for the scraping of data first, opt out later. It would have been incredibly easy to simply leave it opt in only, and when a user goes to access Dropbox AI, they then get a little window telling them "If you wish to use these services you agree to opt in to Open AI's servers". You could then direct them to the page about how it all works. Then everyone knows exactly what they are signing up for and why. 

There is no world where you just need to work on "clarification" after watching what the backlash has been from everywhere else on the internet. There is no world where you are simply- innocently unaware of how partnering with Open AI could upset your users.  And there is no world where Open AI helps dropbox out of the goodness of their hearts. The only thing Open AI cares about is DATA. The math is pretty clear. 

Your company is worth 10 billion dollars. Like hell these are innocent little "mistakes" and "communication errors."

[Veloxi]

I appreciate your message, but I'm gonna be that guy. This should've been spelled out BEFORE we were automatically opted into some sketchy Open AI nonsense. The fact that were all opted in AND not told about it is REALLY suspicious and it makes me (and clearly others) question any trust we have in this company.