LinkedIn pauses training AI models on Canadian user data: privacy commissioner

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne waits to appear at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in Ottawa on November 19, 2024. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

Canada's privacy commissioner says LinkedIn has paused training its artificial intelligence models on data from Canadian users.

Philippe Dufresne says his office was informed of the pause by the tech platform, which he had reached out to after media reports suggested LinkedIn was training AI models with data from Canadian users it had not informed of the practice first.

Dufresne says he has requested information from LinkedIn about the company’s training practices as well as how it obtains consent from its members.

He says LinkedIn believed it had taken a "privacy protective" approach to training its AI models but will now work to ensure it has met the requirements of privacy laws before restarting the practice.

Dufresne says even when personal information is publicly accessible, it is subject to privacy laws and must be adequately protected.

LinkedIn suspended using U.K. user data to train its artificial intelligence models in September, after Britain's information commissioner raised similar concerns.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024