“Every big tech company is desperate for training data, and we can expect more companies following the same sly opt-out playbook, hiding what is going in obscure settings and Terms of Service nobody reads.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
More companies will follow an opt-out playbook to collect training data, hiding it in obscure settings and Terms of Service.
Assessment: Unresolved No deadline stated on 2026-10-29 Evidence as of
Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it
Marcus on AI, PSA: Microsoft may be training on your private data without your knowledge, paragraph 7.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment marcus-psa-microsoft-may-be-training-on-930bb2-2-a2
We recorded 6 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2024-11-26. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Forecast
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No deadline stated
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No deadline stated (the release’s reference date)
From the speaker
- we can expect more companies
- following the same sly opt-out playbook
- hiding what is going in obscure settings and Terms of Service nobody reads
Our interpretation
- The graded forecast concerns additional companies adopting the practice after November 26, 2024.
- More companies requires multiple additional companies; two is a minimum, not a claim about widespread prevalence.
- Hiding is assessed through disclosure and interface design, not an inferred motive. Default training alone is insufficient.
- Nobody reads is rhetorical emphasis on poor visibility, not a literal claim that no person reads terms.
- The prefatory assertion about every company's desperation is not part of this extracted forecast.
Counts as supported if: At least two additional companies introduce default inclusion of user data in AI training after the post, with evidence that notice and opt-outs were confined to obscure settings or terms rather than clearly presented to affected users.
Counts as contradicted if: A decisive development rules out the predicted additional adoption. Failure to find examples by an arbitrary date cannot contradict an undated forecast.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Did the forecast come true?
Outcome: Unresolved
The record was checked, and the evidence available by the cutoff does not settle it.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No deadline stated
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
Reuters reported on January 30, 2026 that Starlink's January 15 policy update permitted AI training unless users opted out, but the report does not establish what notices affected users received [e1]. Vercel's March 17, 2026 announcement described an opt-out deadline of March 31 [e2]. A March 8, 2025 account described Pinterest's planned default inclusion under a policy effective April 30, with a settings opt-out and advance notice [e3]. These records do not establish two companies introducing the complete practice of default training inclusion with obscure disclosure, or a decisive development ruling out further adoption [e1, e2, e3].
Limitations
- Original Starlink user notices and interface records are missing.
- A public announcement alone does not establish the visibility of notice to every affected user.
- Pinterest's advance notice is described in a secondary account.
- Policy permission does not prove that training occurred.
- The forecast has no deadline, and the reviewed examples do not establish what happened across all companies.
Evidence (3 items)
Context only: Reuters, syndicated by Yahoo Finance,
what data
Why it matters here: Reuters documents a new opt-out training permission and unclear data scope. It does not establish whether affected users received prominent notices or whether training had actually begun.
- Publisher
- Reuters, syndicated by Yahoo Finance
- Kind of source
- News report
- Describes events of
- Public from
Context only: Vercel,
opt out
Why it matters here: The announcement specifies default inclusion for Hobby and trial accounts, with paid Pro and Enterprise excluded by default. Its advance announcement prevents treating the policy alone as proof of concealed disclosure.
- Publisher
- Vercel
- Kind of source
- Company disclosure: the company describing itself, not an independent finding
- Describes events of
- Public from
Context only: Lindsey Gamble,
notify users in advance
Why it matters here: The account describes default inclusion and a settings opt-out, but also advance notice. This makes Pinterest an uncertain example of the complete concealed-disclosure forecast.
- Where
- Final paragraph
- Publisher
- Lindsey Gamble
- Kind of source
- Secondary summary
- Describes events of
- Public from
What would settle it
Dated records establishing that at least two additional companies introduced default AI-training inclusion after November 26, 2024, with notices and opt-outs confined to obscure settings or terms. Each case needs the introduction date, data scope, default, opt-out path, and user notices. A decisive development ruling out further qualifying adoption could instead contradict the forecast.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Marcus on AI, PSA: Microsoft may be training on your private data without your knowledge
Every big tech company is desperate for training data, and we can expect more companies following the same sly opt-out playbook, hiding what is going in obscure settings and Terms of Service nobody reads.
- Where
- paragraph 7
- Published
- 2024-11-26
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment marcus-psa-microsoft-may-be-training-on-930bb2-2-a2: Current. Outcome: Unresolved. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.
About assessment marcus-psa-microsoft-may-be-training-on-930bb2-2-a2.