According to Reuters, the AI company Clarifai has removed 3 million photos it reportedly obtained from OkCupid to train its facial recognition technology. The company also deleted any AI models that were developed using that dataset.

The FTC's investigation revealed that in 2014, Clarifai requested data from OkCupid, whose executives were also investors in Clarifai. The dating app then provided user-uploaded photos, along with other demographic and location information. This data sharing reportedly violated OkCupid's own privacy policies at the time.

Court documents reviewed by Reuters include an email from Clarifai founder and CEO Matthew Zeiler to OkCupid co-founder Maxwell Krohn, which stated: “We’re ⁠collecting data now and just realized that OKCupid must have a HUGE amount of awesome data for this.”

Although this data exchange occurred twelve years ago, the FTC did not begin its investigation until 2019. This was prompted by a New York Times article that detailed how Clarifai used OkCupid images to build an AI tool designed to estimate a person's age, sex, and race from their face.

The FTC and OkCupid, which is owned by Match Group, reached a settlement in the lawsuit last month. While OkCupid and Match Group did not admit to allegations that they deceived users by breaching their privacy policies, Clarifai's confirmation that it deleted the data strongly suggests the photos were indeed accessed.

The FTC further alleged that since 2014, Match Group and OkCupid intentionally hid this activity and tried to impede the investigation. Although the FTC cannot impose fines for this type of first-time violation, the agency has mandated that OkCupid and Match are “permanently prohibited from misrepresenting or assisting others in misrepresenting” how they collect and share data.

Consequently, OkCupid and Match are now formally barred from these practices, which were already prohibited by FTC regulations.