Travelers sues firm that allegedly collected private AI glasses data
A Travelers unit has sued to avoid covering the defense of a San Francisco firm that allegedly hired human workers overseas to review unfiltered private data collected from Meta Platform’s AI smart…
A Travelers unit has sued to avoid covering the defense of a San Francisco firm that allegedly hired human workers overseas to review unfiltered private data collected from Meta Platform’s AI smart glasses. Meta has been targeted in 13 class action suits in federal court in California, according to the complaint,Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines v. Samasource Impact Sourcing, filed Tuesday in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Meta’s glasses have been advertised as being “designed for privacy” and “controlled by you. ” But the suits contend that Meta transmitted raw data from its users’ private lives to the San Francisco firm, Samasource Impact Sourcing, known as Sama. Sama allegedly sent the sensitive data to its offices in Kenya, where workers reviewed it to train Meta’s AI models. The Kenyan workers saw people undressing and using the toilet, according to a February report from two Swedish newspapers. Travelers covered Sama with an errors and omissions policy and has agreed to defend the company while reserving its rights to deny coverage and withdraw its defense, according to Travelers’ complaint. Travelers contends that multiple exclusions bar coverage for the class action suits. Its wrongful collection exclusion covers losses due to collection of protected personal information without written consent or in violation of privacy regulations. A “specific legislation” exclusion bars coverage of losses stemming from violation of laws governing unsolicited distribution of recordings. The policy also excludes coverage for a claim based on false advertising or violation of consumer protection laws, according to the complaint. Travelers says it owes no defense or indemnity for the cases.