A new report from Malwarebytes shows that while AI use is becoming increasingly common, 90 percent of respondents say they’re worried about AI using their data without consent and 91 percent support national laws regulating personal data use.
These trust concerns have stopped many people from using AI for some tasks or even altogether. 88 percent say they don’t freely share personal information with AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, 84 percent have not shared personal health information with AI tools. 43 percent have stopped using ChatGPT; 42 percent have stopped using Gemini.
“The tools that can do almost anything are now inviting pushback from the public: What can they do with our data? The problem, some are finding, is that we still don’t know,” says David Ruiz, senior privacy advocate at Malwarebytes. “The broad distrust of AI tools that Malwarebytes found points to a larger online world in which the biggest companies have built their success on their users’ data. It is encouraging to see people increasingly take actions to protect their own privacy, from disengaging with AI tools that they don’t trust, to adopting best practices like enabling multifactor authentication, using ad blockers, and removing their personal data online wherever possible.”
There are some brighter notes, 63 percent now feel resigned that their data is already out there, this is down from 74 percent last year. It’s also clear that people are increasingly feeling empowered and taking action to protect themselves. 49 percent have stopped using TikTok; 44 percent Instagram; 37 percent Facebook.
In addition 76 percent now use multi-factor authentication (up from 69 percent) and 82 percent opt out of data collection where possible (up from 75 percent). 71 percent use an ad blocker (up from 69 percent), and 46 percent use a VPN (up from 42 percent). 48 percent read privacy policies and reports (up from 43 percent), 38 percent use fake or dummy data when possible (up from 33 percent), while 25 percent use a personal data removal service (up from 23 percent).
You can read more on the Malwarebytes blog.
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