Ghibli-style image trend: ChatGPT has logged millions of new users over the past week, what with the hoopla around its latest image generator and its viral Ghibli-style image craze. But from among the hype has also emerged some warning voices — data privacy experts have cautioned about the flood of private and personal photos making their way into AI platform.
How Safe is ChatGPT For Uploading Photos?
According to each platform’s own chatbot, while not a glaring red flag, the AI itself cautions against sharing sensitive data and photos. Notably, OpenAI has not made any official statement on the matter.
In a chat about how safe it is to use OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli-style image generator, ChatGPT issued a general warning that “its not safe” on any AI tool, unless privacy and data policies are clearly defined.
It did specify that OpenAI does not store or use uploaded images beyond the immediate prompt, but added that “it’s always best to avoid sharing sensitive or personal images with AI services”.
On privacy concers, ChatGPT said: “If privacy is a concern, consider using offline tools or apps specifically designed for secure image processing.”
What Did Grok 3 Say, Should You Be Concerned?
Engaging on the same topic, Elon Musk’s Grok 3 had a similar cautious approaching to the topic. On maker xAI’s data and privacy policy Grok said timelines were not specific and data collected “could be vulnerable to breaches.”
Grok also pointed out that xAI, uses data (streams of user text posts and images) from its subsidiary holding X (formerly Twitter) to improve AI tools, unless you specifically opt out of the process.
It did say that misuse may be unintentional, but users should “best avoid” uploading photos with sensitive details. “Grok 3’s security measures are likely decent (xAI isn’t a fly-by-night operation), and the fun of seeing yourself as a Ghibli character might outweigh the worry. But if privacy’s a priority, especially with photos of people who haven’t consented, you’re rolling the dice,” it ended.
Thus, amid the potential risks of uploading personal photos to ChatGPT and Grok, we take a look at the steps you can take to stay safe.
How Can You Safeguard Images, Photos Against Misuse/ Unconsented Use?
- Be very cautious on which platforms you upload personal images and photos.
- Images with sensitive location details, identifiers, and which can be used by malicious parties to track your real-time whereabouts must be censored or avoided completely.
- If you still need to upload a photo, ensure that it is a low-resolution image that cannot be scraped for AI training.
- Further, you can use tools such as Glaze or even the “xx” option in photo editors to sutbly blur out the finer details in photos and render them useless for AI tool training.
Thoroughly check the platform’s privacy policies to know how they use your data. Read their privacy policies to see how your data will be used.
For most privacy, choose platforms that do not store your data.
When downloading apps, ensure that you remove the camera and gallery access to apps that may have permission to use them.
Conduct a reverse image search to ensure that your photo is not being misused online.
