Zoom has become the go-to connectivity app professionally and personally after the pandemic. The tool has become the de facto standard for hosting virtual happy hours, telemedicine visits, and business calls. A hasty change to Zoom’s terms of service led some in social media to call for a boycott when reality is a bit more nuanced.

Your Face and Voice May (Not) Be Used for Training Purposes

Zoom updated their terms of service and notified users certain kinds of data may be used for training company AI models. This prompted people on social media to suspect Zoom will be using audio and video call data specifically. Essentially eavesdropping on calls and using peoples’ voices and likenesses for any number of models.

Like most information posted to social media, there’s more to the truth. Zoom did update their terms of service to include provisions for using data for training models.

There are a number of AI plugins available for Zoom. Including frequently used transcription products using AI to generate timeline and text for calls.

Zoom updated their terms of services to clarify NO data will be using for training models without user consent. Users will be prompted when training is engaged and must agree before any data is stored for training.

This is similar to how users must consent when calls are recorded. It’s not foolproof because calls still go on featuring users with the prompt visible on screen.

What Is Zoom Training On?

Zoom claims user generated content: Audio, Video, and Chat, will not be used for training without user consent. However, so called service-generated data like user behavior, connection quality, and application events may be used for training.

Zoom claims service-generated data is, “our data,” and is fair game for them to use. After Monday’s update, Zoom followed up with another clarifying sentence to their terms of service later this week.

Notwithstanding the above, Zoom will not use audio, video or chat Customer Content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent.

Zoom Terms of Service

Here’s the real deal when it comes to products like Zoom, especially the free tiers.

If you’re not paying for the product, or paying next to nothing for the product, then you are the product.

In exchange for using something for free or on the cheap, you are surrendering information. This is the primary reason why I pay for my real email address.

If you really want to safeguard your personal information on any service, you have to pay for it. And even then you have to read the terms of service, and choose whether or not you will use the service.

In today’s world, Data, is more valuable than money.

“Know your worth.”