OpenAI fails to deliver the opt-out tool it promised
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the coming opt-out tool in May 2024, but let it languish as a low priority within the company.
Jan. 2, 2025 — TechCrunch’s Kyle Wiggers reports that OpenAI has failed to deliver the opt-out tool the company promised earlier this year, and there doesn’t seem to be any internal motivation to get it released.
Wiggers writes:
Back in May, OpenAI said it was developing a tool to let creators specify how they want their works to be included in — or excluded from — its AI training data. But 7 months later, this feature has yet to see the light of day.
Called Media Manager, the tool would “identify copyrighted text, images, audio, and video,” OpenAI said at the time, to reflect creators’ preferences “across multiple sources.” It was intended to stave off some of the company’s fiercest critics, and potentially shield OpenAI from IP-related legal challenges.
But people familiar tell TechCrunch that the tool was rarely viewed as an important launch internally. “I don’t think it was a priority,” one former OpenAI employee said. “To be honest, I don’t remember anyone working on it.”