What you need to know
- Samsung Health’s new AI consent comes with a catch: Opt out of AI training and you could lose cloud sync and Samsung account backups for your health data.
- Samsung wants access to a wide range of sensitive data, including sleep, activity, nutrition, medical records, medications, body measurements and menstrual cycle data, to improve its AI models.
- Opting out of consent doesn’t just disable AI features. Samsung warns that it will stop syncing your health data and may delete previously backed-up records if they are not legally required to be retained.
Samsung is quietly introducing a new AI consent survey Samsung Healthbut its approach to user choice is already raising eyebrows. Not only does the company offer users the option to opt in or out of AI training; it locks the option into cloud sync, so if you opt out, you could lose Samsung account backups of your health data.
People too How – Geek A report that sees a new notice labeled “Consent to Use Health Data for AI Training and Modeling.” According to the notice, Samsung is seeking permission to use a wide range of health data to improve its AI models and health algorithms. This includes activity metrics such as steps, sleep, nutrition and body measurements; medication details; medical records; and menstrual cycle tracking data. Samsung also says that some of this data can be reviewed by humans during AI training.
The point at issue is not that Samsung sought consent; this is what happens if you don’t. If you disable the AI training option, you will receive a warning that Samsung Health will not sync data with your Samsung account.
The notice also states that previously synced health information will be deleted unless Samsung is legally required to retain it. That is, you can only get cloud backup in exchange for training Samsung’s AI.
Image 1 of 2
The company touts the collected data as fuel for smarter health features, which it says will help improve health analytics algorithms and AI-powered experiences within Samsung Health.
Privacy advocates and users are unlikely to object to AI improvements alone. The bigger problem is that a key feature — keeping your health history in sync between devices — now depends on a non-consensual decision. If you just want your fitness logs backed up – without AI being part of the development process – Samsung’s current implementation doesn’t leave much room for compromise.
Android Central’s Take
I’m really in favor of AI becoming smarter, helping to provide better health insights, more accurate health recommendations, or early warnings of potential problems. These are benefits that most of us can relate to. But choosing between contributing sensitive health data or keeping cloud backups seems like an unnecessary trade-off. Consent only exists when it is freely given, not when one of the key features of your app is held hostage.
