I Asked ChapGPT About Zoom’s New Terms Of Service. It Warned Me About A Potential For Deepfakes

I asked ChatGPT for its opinion on the recent Zoom controversy regarding their updated terms of service. It’s important for Zoom users to understand these terms as they give the company a perpetual, worldwide, sublicensable, and transferable license to use and modify your content for service delivery and product enhancement. ChatGPT shared some concerns about this policy, which were evident in the suggested title I requested for its response.

From Video Conferencing to Content Creation: Could Zoom Soon Offer Deepfakes Of Your Content?

In today’s digital age, video conferencing tools like Zoom have become indispensable for businesses, educators, and individuals alike. As with any online platform, users are required to agree to a set of terms and conditions before using the service. One of the most debated aspects of Zoom’s Terms of Service is its broad licensing terms.

When you use Zoom, it’s important to know that the company has broad permission to utilize, adjust, and distribute any content you provide. This means that if you upload or share content, Zoom can use it in various ways, like altering it to improve the company’s services or software. This is outlined in sections 10.3 and 10.4 of Zoom’s Terms of Service.

There could be a concern regarding the broad licensing terms that may allow for the misuse of user content. For instance, if Zoom decides to provide training videos for content creators, it is possible that they could manipulate and distribute existing user content to create derivative training materials. With technological advancements, such as deep fakes, this hypothetical scenario could become impossible in the future. If Zoom decided to explore providing training videos for revenue generation five years from now, the company’s current terms of service would technically permit them to use user content in this new endeavor.

Conclusion

There is currently no evidence that Zoom plans to use user content in the manner that ChatGPT proposes. However, the broad scope of their license permits such actions to take place. It’s essential for users to comprehend these terms and the potential outcomes. This issue affects not only individuals but also companies across various industries as Zoom’s usage is widespread. Privacy experts within these companies must assess whether this aligns with their data privacy and usage concerns and take the necessary action of challenging Zoom to ensure their terms of service specifically safeguard user content without any ambiguity or generalization.