Dropbox CEO Denies Sharing User Data With OpenAI, But The Option To Disable AI Search Is Now Hidden

Popular file storage service Dropbox is at the center of a new controversy after spooking users with a new option in its settings for an experimental AI-powered search feature.

What Happened: Dropbox Inc. DBX launched a new AI-powered feature for its paying subscribers, surfacing improved search results when the feature is enabled.

Dropbox partnered with the Microsoft Corp.-backed MSFT OpenAI to power this feature.

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However, what spooked users is the fact that this feature is enabled by default. Some users posted concerns that their private files – which could be sensitive documents or media – were being sent to OpenAI to train their models, possibly in exchange for better search results.

Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN CTO Werner Vogels raised this issue on X, formerly Twitter, informing users to disable this third-party AI feature in their Dropbox account settings.

If you are using @dropbox and do not want 3rd party AI technology partners to have access to your dropbox files, flip this switch (on by default, or did I agree to this somewhere?) (web->account->settings-3rd party AI) /cc @EU_EDPS pic.twitter.com/rnKM332KSh

— Werner Vogels (@Werner) December 13, 2023

This elicited a response from Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, who denied that any data was being sent to OpenAI or other services.

"Neither this nor any other setting automatically or passively sends any Dropbox customer data to a third-party AI service," Houston said.

The third-party AI toggle in the settings menu enables or disables access to DBX AI features and functionality. Neither this nor any other setting automatically or passively sends any Dropbox customer data to a third-party AI service.

— Drew Houston (@drewhouston) December 13, 2023

Dropbox' AI FAQ page also states that customer data is not shared with third-party services while using the AI search feature.

However, that's not where the controversy ends. Dropbox has now reportedly hidden the AI settings option altogether, which means customers can no longer enable or disable this feature.

The service's FAQ pages still say that users can manage the Dropbox AI feature in settings, but user reports suggest that the option has been hidden.

Why It Matters: Dropbox is used to store personal as well as professional files and media, some of which could be sensitive in nature. While the Dropbox AI feature is still available only to a limited set of users, the fact that users can no longer control it is concerning.

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