Consumer Technology

Don’t Believe the AI Hype: EFF’s Practical Tips to Stay Grounded Every week another product announces it is “powered by AI.” Chatbots, photo editors, vacuum cleaners, even toasters—suddenly everything seems to have artificial intelligence inside. Some of these claims are genuine, but many are marketing fluff designed to make ordinary software sound revolutionary. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched a campaign to help people cut through that noise. Here is a look at what is going on, why it matters, and how you can keep your privacy and wallet intact. ...

How to Cut Through AI Hype and Protect Your Privacy: A Guide from EFF Every week, it seems, a new company announces an AI tool that will “revolutionise” your workflow, “personalise” your experience, or “intelligently” anticipate your needs. But behind the marketing language, many of these products collect more data than they disclose, rely on poorly documented training methods, and rarely deliver on their boldest promises. The result is a fog of hype that makes it hard for ordinary users to know which tools deserve their trust – and which ones put their privacy at risk. ...

Meta’s Keystroke Tracking for AI Training: Progress or Privacy Issue? — Here’s What You Can Do If you use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, your interactions on those platforms have likely been feeding Meta’s artificial intelligence models. Recent reports confirm that Meta collected keystroke data—the characters you type—from its apps to train AI systems. The company later scaled back the tool after internal backlash. For millions of everyday users, the episode raises a practical question: how much of what you type is being used, and what can you do to limit that data collection? ...

Meta Is Using Your Keystrokes to Train AI – Here’s How to Opt Out Recent reports confirm that Meta has been collecting keystroke data from users of its platforms to train its artificial intelligence models. The news, first covered by TechTarget in early July 2026, has raised questions about how much of your everyday typing on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is being used without your explicit permission. While Meta argues this improves its AI systems, the practice carries real privacy implications for ordinary users. This article explains what happened, why it matters, and how you can limit your exposure. ...

Meta’s AI training is using your keystrokes: what that means for your privacy In mid-2026, reports emerged that Meta had been training its artificial intelligence models using keystroke and mouse click data collected from its own employees. The tool, designed to improve AI’s ability to simulate human interaction, quickly drew scrutiny from privacy advocates and regulators, particularly in the European Union. Meta later scaled back the program, but the incident underscores a broader question: when companies collect fine-grained behavioral data, where do they draw the line between product improvement and surveillance? ...

5 Privacy Settings You Should Change on Your AI Tools Right Now AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and smart home assistants have become part of daily life for millions of people. They can draft emails, summarize documents, control lights, or just answer questions. But convenience has a trade-off: many of these services are set up to collect and retain more data than most users realize. If you haven’t looked through your privacy settings lately, now is the time. ...

Your Privacy in the AI Age: 7 Practical Steps to Protect Your Data Introduction If you use ChatGPT, Google Assistant, or any app with AI features, you’re sharing data with systems that learn from everything you type or say. That convenience comes with a trade‑off: your conversations, uploads, and even voice recordings can be used to train models, stored on company servers, or exposed in data breaches. ...

How Medical AI Puts Your Health Data at Risk—and What You Can Do If you’ve used a symptom checker, a mental health chatbot, or a wearable that tracks heart rate and sleep, you’ve already handed over some of the most sensitive information you own: your health data. Now, a fresh warning from experts suggests that medical AI systems may expose that data in ways that weren’t fully understood before. ...

Google and Apple Say DMA Will Hurt Your Privacy: What to Know If you’ve followed tech news lately, you’ve seen Google and Apple warning that new European regulations could weaken your privacy and security. Their argument is simple: The Digital Markets Act (DMA) would force us to open up our platforms, and that could expose your data and device to more risk. ...

What AI Governance Means for Your Privacy—and What You Can Do About It If you use any online service, chances are an AI system is involved in how your data is collected, analyzed, or used. Governments are starting to step in with new rules, and that shift is creating both opportunities and confusion for everyday users. Understanding what AI governance actually means, and how it affects your privacy rights, is becoming more than an academic exercise. ...