S7, E269 - You're the Teacher Now: How Companies Are Using Your Data to Build AI That Replaces You

In this episode of Privacy Please, host Cameron Ivey exposes a troubling shift in how companies are using personal and professional data: no longer just as a product, but as a teacher for AI systems designed to replace users and employees. The episode centers on GitHub's upcoming policy to use customer code, prompts, and interactions to train its AI models—opt-in by default in the U.S., buried deep in settings. Ivey argues this is part of a broader 'playbook' across tech companies, where data collected for one purpose is quietly repurposed for AI training through 'function creep.' The episode highlights how employees across industries—from customer service to legal teams—are unknowingly feeding AI systems that eventually automate their roles, often without consent or protection. Ivey underscores the legal and ethical crisis: even when users request data deletion, the AI model's learned patterns remain, rendering privacy rights ineffective. The episode concludes with actionable steps—auditing privacy settings, documenting employer requests, and demanding transparency—while challenging listeners to question whether their input is being used to train AI that could replace them.