Samsung has started asking users for a new consent to use their health data for artificial intelligence training in its Health app. This option, which some users encounter, attracts attention not only because of data sharing, but also with the warning that if approval is rejected, health data cannot be synchronized with the Samsung account and may be deleted unless there is a legal obligation. The company has not yet made an official statement on the subject.
The notification in question was first noticed by some Samsung Health users. According to the information provided by How-To Geek, there is a key in the application titled “Approval for the Use of Health Data for Artificial Intelligence Training and Modeling”. If this option is turned off, the app displays a warning stating that health data will not be synced with the Samsung account and the relevant data will not be stored. This approach raises questions, especially for users who only want to sync their data between their devices.
According to the information on Samsung’s support page, the types of data that can be used in artificial intelligence training and modeling processes have a wide range. These include height, weight and similar body measurements, nutritional information, step count, physical activity records and sleep data. In addition, drug information such as prescriptions and drug doses, diagnoses, test results, treatment history and other clinical records are also included. It is stated that users who track their menstrual cycle can use cycle data along with physiological indicators such as heart rate in this process.
It remains unclear how Samsung health data will be used
According to Samsung’s statement, the health data that users allow to be shared will be evaluated in artificial intelligence training and modeling processes in order to develop the Samsung Health application. The company states that this data will be used to develop algorithms that analyze health status and improve artificial intelligence-supported features. The statement states that human review can also be part of this process when necessary.
However, detailed information has not been shared about the methods by which the data is processed and whether it is anonymized or not. Health data is considered among the most sensitive categories of personal data in many countries. Therefore, questions such as what security measures are used to protect users’ data, who can access it, and to what extent it is transferred to artificial intelligence models remain important.
On the other hand, the focus of the discussion is not only on the use of data for artificial intelligence training. The ability of users to sync their health data with their Samsung account is linked to this approval, which also causes criticism. Although such permission may be expected for users who want to benefit from artificial intelligence features, applying the same requirement for people who only want to benefit from basic health monitoring and inter-device synchronization functions may lead to different evaluations.
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