{"id":1895664,"date":"2026-04-21T19:52:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895664"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:52:23","slug":"ai-company-deletes-the-3-million-okcupid-photos-it-used-for-facial-recognition-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1895664","title":{"rendered":"AI company deletes the 3 million OKCupid photos it used for facial recognition training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/DujY2HvxynCLrZc24ah_3Q&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02MDA-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/okcupid_logo.svg_5176.png&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-a0e5fc1d-1c28-4d66-a85a-e63bc800c22a\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<nav class=\"prestige-breadcrumb relative mx-4 md:mx-0\" aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<ol class=\"no-scrollbar overflow-scroll whitespace-nowrap text-battleship\">\n<li class=\"inline\">\n<li class=\"inline-block cursor-default last:pr-10 md:last:pr-20 font-bold\">AI<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<header class=\"mb-4 px-4 md:mb-6 md:px-0\">\n<h1 class=\"layout-h1 my-2 font-bold leading-tight\">AI company deletes the 3 million OKCupid photos it used for facial recognition training<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"my-2 text-[18px] font-light leading-5 md:max-w-[660px] md:text-[20px]\/[28px]\">It follows a settlement with the FTC from last month.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"flex-col items-start lg:flex lg:flex-row lg:items-center lg:justify-between mt-6\">\n<div class=\"relative md:mr-[10px]\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-2\">\n<div class=\"shrink-0 cursor-pointer inline-block size-[42px] lg:size-[48px]\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt role=\"img\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full rounded-full object-cover object-center shadow-[0_0_0_2px_#ffffff]\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/HVLHsm6NoIRupYAscgAX1g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2025-07\/cd49bb30-6802-11f0-9fbf-d9d20eb98294\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-block\">\n<div class=\"w-max text-sm\/5 font-semibold lg:!flex flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col\">\n<div class=\"flex w-max items-center\">Will Shanklin<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"font-normal sm:before:inline-block\">Contributing Reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lg:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-21T19:52:23.000Z\">Tue, April 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-0 mt-4 flex items-center lg:ml-3 lg:mt-0\">\n<div class=\"ml-0 mr-2\">\n<div class=\"relative flex\">Add Engadget on Google<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden lg:block\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-21T19:52:23.000Z\">Tue, April 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-1 gap-x-8 lg:gap-x-0 mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px] md:grid-cols-[[main-start]_1fr_[main-end_right-start]_min-content_[right-end]] lg:!gap-x-8\">\n<div class=\"md:col-main\" data-i13n-boundary=\"true\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-[[fullbleed-start_body-start]_minmax(auto,750px)_[body-end_fullbleed-end]]\">\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative overflow-hidden fig-image-round left-1\/2 w-screen -translate-x-1\/2 md:left-0 md:w-auto md:translate-x-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"object-cover object-center\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Z6FoI428Ry0gSJQZi87.6g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/uu\/api\/res\/1.2\/lNWpQ9MK2R5sHqyzSqi5kA--~B\/aD0xOTIwO3c9Mzg0MDthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/okcupid_logo.svg_5176.png\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span>OkCupid \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">When online platforms violate their own privacy policies to sell your photos, have no fear: They just might have to pay an undisclosed settlement fee 12 years later. (Who says justice is dead?) According to <em>Reuters<\/em>, AI company Clarifai says it has deleted 3 million profile photos taken from dating site OkCupid in 2014. It follows a settlement reached last month between the FTC and Match Group, OkCupid&#8217;s owner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The Delaware-based Clarifai reportedly certified the data deletion to the FTC on April 7. The company also confirmed to US Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA) that it deleted any models that trained on the data. Clarifai told the representative&#8217;s office that it hadn&#8217;t shared the data with third parties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The FTC opened the investigation in 2019, after <em>The New York Times<\/em> reported that Clarifai had built a training database using OkCupid dating profile photos. The behavior was a direct violation of OkCupid\u2019s privacy policy. Court documents reviewed by <em>Reuters<\/em> reveal that Clarifai asked OkCupid executives for the data in 2014. Apparently, they obliged.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Five people sitting on stairs. Creepy boxes surround their faces, estimating age, race and gender.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"885\" height=\"553\" class=\"fig-image-round\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/LyIer2Mp6mkII3TGAjsaYA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYwMA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/imgi_198_image_10-mar-26-2024-09-54-42-5759-pm_2190.png\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\"><\/p>\n<p>Clarifai uses this creepy facial profiling example to sell its services.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span> (Clarifai)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;We&#8217;re \u2060collecting data now and just realized that OkCupid must have a HUGE amount of awesome data for this,&#8221; Clarifai founder Matthew Zeiler wrote in an email to OkCupid co-founder Maxwell Krohn. The AI startup used the dating site&#8217;s images to build a facial recognition service that can identify a person&#8217;s age, gender and race. (Another brilliant and totally ethical idea from Clarifai, tapping into unsecured city surveillance cameras without authorization, was reportedly shuttered.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_mh9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_16h9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Zeiller suggested to <em>The New York Times<\/em> in 2019 that people needed to, well, get over it. &#8220;There has to be some level of trust with tech companies like Clarifai to put powerful technology to good use, and get comfortable with that,&#8221; the AI founder declared. Some of OkCupid&#8217;s founders were reportedly investors in Clarifai.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">As part of the settlement, the FTC &#8220;permanently prohibited&#8221; OkCupid from misrepresenting its data collection and privacy controls. <em>TechCrunch<\/em> notes how strange it is to use that as a penalty, given that FTC rules already bar that behavior.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px]\">\n<div class=\"commerce col-body\" data-pw=\"disclosure\">\n<div class=\"mb-7 flex items-center rounded-lg p-3 p-5 w-fit flex-col md:flex-row\">\n<p class=\"text-[12px] text-battleship dark:text-gandalf md:text-[13px]\">If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"md:col-main grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px]\">\n<div class=\"no-scrollbar col-body mx-4 mb-8 mt-2.5 overflow-x-scroll whitespace-nowrap md:mx-0 md:max-w-[750px] md:overflow-x-visible md:hidden\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-screen-sm\">\n<ul class=\"inline-flex text-xs md:text-sm\">\n<li class=\"mr-6\">About our ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">When online platforms violate their own privacy policies to sell your photos, have no fear: They just might have to pay an undisclosed settlement fee 12 years later. (Who says justice is dead?) According to <em>Reuters<\/em>, AI company Clarifai says it has deleted 3 million profile photos taken from dating site OkCupid in 2014. It follows a settlement reached last month between the FTC and Match Group, OkCupid&#8217;s owner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The Delaware-based Clarifai reportedly certified the data deletion to the FTC on April 7. The company also confirmed to US Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA) that it deleted any models that trained on the data. Clarifai told the representative&#8217;s office that it hadn&#8217;t shared the data with third parties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The FTC opened the investigation in 2019, after <em>The New York Times<\/em> reported that Clarifai had built a training database using OkCupid dating profile photos. The behavior was a direct violation of OkCupid\u2019s privacy policy. Court documents reviewed by <em>Reuters<\/em> reveal that Clarifai asked OkCupid executives for the data in 2014. Apparently, they obliged.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Five people sitting on stairs. Creepy boxes surround their faces, estimating age, race and gender.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"885\" height=\"553\" class=\"fig-image-round\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/LyIer2Mp6mkII3TGAjsaYA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYwMA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/imgi_198_image_10-mar-26-2024-09-54-42-5759-pm_2190.png\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span class=\"[&amp;_p]:inline\"><\/p>\n<p>Clarifai uses this creepy facial profiling example to sell its services.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span> (Clarifai)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;We&#8217;re \u2060collecting data now and just realized that OkCupid must have a HUGE amount of awesome data for this,&#8221; Clarifai founder Matthew Zeiler wrote in an email to OkCupid co-founder Maxwell Krohn. The AI startup used the dating site&#8217;s images to build a facial recognition service that can identify a person&#8217;s age, gender and race. (Another brilliant and totally ethical idea from Clarifai, tapping into unsecured city surveillance cameras without authorization, was reportedly shuttered.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_mh9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_16h9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Zeiller suggested to <em>The New York Times<\/em> in 2019 that people needed to, well, get over it. &#8220;There has to be some level of trust with tech companies like Clarifai to put powerful technology to good use, and get comfortable with that,&#8221; the AI founder declared. Some of OkCupid&#8217;s founders were reportedly investors in Clarifai.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">As part of the settlement, the FTC &#8220;permanently prohibited&#8221; OkCupid from misrepresenting its data collection and privacy controls. <em>TechCrunch<\/em> notes how strange it is to use that as a penalty, given that FTC rules already bar that behavior.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/ai\/ai-company-deletes-the-3-million-okcupid-photos-it-used-for-facial-recognition-training-195223996.html&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/DujY2HvxynCLrZc24ah_3Q&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02MDA-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/okcupid_logo.svg_5176.png&#8221;] AI AI company deletes the 3 million OKCupid photos it used for facial recognition training It follows a settlement with the FTC from last month. Will Shanklin Contributing Reporter Tue, April 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC Add Engadget on Google Tue, April 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC OkCupid \/ Wikimedia [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,63],"class_list":["post-1895664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-engadget-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}