šØā ļøATTENTION FELLOW WRITERSā ļøšØ
If you use Google Docs for your writing, I highly encourage you to download your work, delete it from Google Docs, and transfer it to a different program/site, unless you want AI to start leeching off your hard work!!!
I personally have switched to Libre Office, but there are many different options. I recommend checking out r/degoogle for options.
Please reblog to spread the word!!
Crypt Pad can be an option too!
I donāt use Docs very much at all, but this looks like a good moment to take a sweep through my account and delete anything thatās in there.
Jesus Christ not this again.
First, note how many times this person saysĀ āI take this to meanā¦ā I support people reading the terms and conditions but when youāre this wildly off base about what it means youāre not helping anyone.
First, hereās the actual Terms and Conditions.
Second, the feature that Google Workplace Labs is referring to is basically an advanced search engine. It is a feature you can use to ask questions (the prompt) and receive answers (the output). How do I know this? Because the data it refers to is specified:Ā your prompts and input, prompt and input refinements, generated output, generated output refinements, and feedback. You have to specifically give the Lab information - it is not grabbing the info from anywhere else.
It is up to YOU to not input information you donāt want Google to retain. It works exactly like a Google search - which for the record Google keeps records of and what result you ended up going with. If you donāt want Google to have access to your omegaverse fic then donāt input it into the big box that is set aside specifically to give it to Google.
Third, I mentioned this in a previous post but I am the human reviewer mentioned inĀ āTo help with quality and improve our products, human reviewers read, annotate, and process your Workspace Labs data.ā Weāre not supposed to guess what AI weāre working with but Iād bet every dollar I have that the one I review for rhymes withĀ āLardā.
Hereās what we get:
Prompt: What is a good way to start a story?
Response: I can help with that!Ā
Stories work best with a strong start. You should introduce a major component of your story such as the setting, a main character, or a plot hook. Which you choose will depend on your genre. A mystery, for example, may start with the discovery of a body while a romance may introduce one of the main characters.Feedback: Dissatisfied, I wanted it to give me first lines.
Now I have the info. I can see what you asked (although I have no idea it was you), the response the AI gave you, and why you didnāt like it. I rewrite a new response taking your feedback into account. That response is submitted to the AI so it can learn what it did wrong. If you donāt give feedback I may only get the first two and then I decide if it was a good answer and either accept it or rewrite based on my understanding.
Fourth, I already wrote a whole screed on this so Iām not going to repeat it but take twelve seconds to think of the implications of a company using all of your data. Google has a vested and immediate interest in being able to use your data. No one denies it. But it doesnāt because they cannot pivot their business model to taking all of a personās data. It will ALWAYS have to be opt in. Too many major players have secrets stored in shit like Google docs (the number of federal agencies and law firms alone would make you wince).
Fifth, this is not to say a BRAND NEW platform might not try to pull some shit. TikTok famously. But Google and Microsoft have a business model based around storing secrets. They are not going to jettison that.
A good article about all this, I get that itās a valid concern rn but the fact is that thereās absolutely no way if Google did this that they wouldnāt get sued into oblivion. The amount of private and proprietary information stored would simply be grounds for every single company that uses drive to well. Do what companies do.
I will say that I think having a backup is good, and will be looking for one myself. But please please please do research when it comes to stuff like this. Everyone is vulnerable to misinfo. Iāve done it before, so rule of thumb: if itās too good to be true, it probably is. If itās too evil to be true, it might be. Always double check.
Also please donāt spread misinformation like this! Iāve heard many a people have panic attacks over having to transfer thousands of documents, and spreading misinformation can cause more anxiety for people and more harm to Google.
Do research and check to make sure before jumping to conclusions!
(via boggmann)































