I should probably put this in the forums but I'll put this here right now. Scratch adding AI features and updating their privacy policy is ignorant at best and intentionally predatory at worst. // Wait, Scratch is adding gen AI? For those unaware, Scratch is on adding generative AI to some extent (unsure to what) and has just updated the privacy policy (as of 1/22/26) which grants them permission to use the contents of your project to train AI with no way to opt out. // Why is this underhanded? This news was published via forum post and then through an offsite article on Medium. Privacy policy changes were never mentioned on either. This is underhanded because 1) its not even big enough news its on the main page; many users never check the forum, 2) updates are offsite, which this site even discourages users from going, and 3) the AI training clause is hidden in a document which is intended for *parents* to read, not kids. While yes, parents agreeing to online legal documents is the norm (especially for children under 13, who cannot legally consent to their data being collected), many kids are not going to get their parents to reread the privacy policy. This data is also different than other personal information like IP, gender, and geographical location. Those are simply traits / characteristics of someone while this data is someone's personal creation. Allowing access to use projects and clumping it in with personal data is like going up to someone in real life and asking if you can get to know them, then copying their homework, and then saying that you were allowed to do that because they let you be your friend. // What I'm doing Right now, I'm simply waiting to see what direction the ST will take with it. They honestly are not that responsive to the community from what I've seen, so I highly doubt that they will roll this back unless the backlash really is that strong. If they are going ahead with this, I will most likely leave. I was only ever here to contact friends and maybe make more. I'm learning to code elsewhere (Neocities). I'm considering going over to Character Hub or Unvale tbh. If you ever want to look for me (as an alter) specifically, I always use itsahoody as my user. If you just want to see our art in general, we're under iackalope on most site's (I'm sure you can recognise my style). There's more thoughts on my profile comments but I'll leave this for now.
