Microsoft adds AI facial recognition to OneDrive, can only be disabled three times per year

Microsoft rolls out AI facial recognition to OneDrive to recognize people in photos, and users will only be able to disable the feature three times a year.

Microsoft adds AI facial recognition to OneDrive, can only be disabled three times per year
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Tech and Science Editor
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TL;DR: Microsoft OneDrive now features AI-powered facial recognition to help users organize photos by identifying people, similar to Google Photos. However, users can disable this privacy-intrusive feature only three times per year, raising concerns about control and transparency in managing AI-driven photo analysis.

Microsoft has rolled out an update for OneDrive that added AI facial recognition to the digital storage service, specifically for photos. However, the feature reportedly can only be disabled three times per year.

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The discovery comes from Slashdot, which discovered Microsoft's warning after uploading an image from local storage on their smartphone to Microsoft's OneDrive"file-hosting app. After the upload was complete, the user ventured to the Privacy and Permissions section of the app and discovered the"People Section"feature, along with the description"OneDrive uses AI to recognize faces in your photos."

According to the description, OneDrive uses AI to recognize faces in photos to assist users in sifting through their collection of photos to find specific people, such as friends or family. Think of this feature as Google Photos' "People" search, but in OneDrive.

What is probably the most concerning aspect of this feature is the warning, "You can only turn off this setting 3 times a year." Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, Microsoft doesn't provide an explanation as to why users can only switch this feature on/off three times a year.

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If I were to guess why, it probably has something to do with the processing power required to carry out the process, whether that be on-device or on Microsoft's end. If that is the case, I would argue Microsoft shouldn't roll out such a feature that is so demanding on either side of it, especially one that potentially encroaches on the privacy of users.

Microsoft provided a non-statement to Slashdot about the feature, and despite the opportunity to shed some light on the reasoning behind the limited disable count, the company responded with this statement: "OneDrive inherits privacy features and settings from Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, where applicable."

Ok, Microsoft.