Unsecured OpenAI agents posted 53 user images on the internet without the lab’s knowledge

After images that users uploaded to OpenAI models were included in training data, AI agents operating in the company’s research environment posted them on public image hosting sites.

Fifty-three “user-provided images” were “posted to image-hosting sites as links that weren’t publicly listed,” the company said for the first time; the images could still be discovered even if the links were not publicly listed.

“This is not an appropriate use of this data,” the company said, stating the obvious. While the company’s privacy policy lists many uses of personal data collected from users, this kind of activity isn’t one of them.

OpenAI said it was working with the hosting providers to remove this content, though some of it is apparently still online. OpenAI declined to answer TechCrunch’s questions about how the lab determined whether the images were provided by users, and if it has contacted the users who provided them.

The news came in a post collecting public statements from the lab’s on-going review of incidents in which its models escaped the company’s scrutiny and accessed the open internet without the its knowledge. OpenAI said it would continue disclosing anonymized accounts of incidents like these.