Owner of WordPress and Tumblr reportedly in talks to sell user content to train AI

People that post content on Tumblr or WordPress may be unknowingly training AI models.

According to a report from 404 Media, Automattic (the owner of WordPress, Tumblr, and other related sites and services) is making deals to sell users' content to AI companies to train AI models. These companies include big players in the AI field, such as OpenAI and MidJourney. 

It should be noted that Automattic owns WordPress.com, which is a blogging site, and not WordPress.org, which hosts the WordPress website software.

Citing an internal source and leaked internal documents, 404 Media reports that the deals are "imminent," and the data may be sold as soon as this week. 

According to Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, the content that would be sold includes not only publicly available content but also private posts, deleted posts, explicit material, and advertising content from companies like Apple that may not be legal to sell.

In a post published February 27, Automattic states that while the company currently blocks search engine and AI crawlers, it is "working directly with select AI companies as long as their plans align with what [the] community cares about: attributions, opt-outs, and control." The post also says that Automattic will "respect all opt-out settings." 

Automattic has not officially confirmed it will sell user data to AI companies. However, Automattic affirms that it currently shares content that is publicly hosted on WordPress.com and Tumblr.

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