Samsung Health may delete your data if you reject AI training

Samsung Health users are running into an ultimatum they didn't ask for: hand over health data for AI training, or lose it entirely. A new in-app notice, first reported by How-To Geek, is prompting some users with a toggle titled "Consent to the Use of Health Data for AI Training and Modelling", and declining comes at a cost.

But simply turning off the toggle is not enough to merely withdraw oneself from being part of the AI learning programme. Syncing of health data to one’s Samsung account will be disabled along with the wiping away of such data unless local laws demand Samsung retain it.

What data does Samsung want for AI training?

A Samsung Health support page defines in detail the type of data that the new consent requests cover. These include body measurements, nutrition, number of steps, and sleep data; data about medications and prescriptions; medical history involving diagnosis and test results; and cycle-tracking data, along with physiological measures for menstrual health.

The company explains that the data collected would be used for AI training and modelling, involving human review, to enhance health condition analysis, among other AI functions in the app.

Most AI consent requests apply only to the AI features themselves. This one is broader. Even users who never touch Samsung's generative AI tools are being asked to trade sensitive medical data for the ability to keep syncing their own health history across devices.

There's also no confirmation yet on whether the collected data is anonymised before being used for training, a detail that matters given how identifiable health records can be even without a name attached.