MyHeritage amends terms of service

AI and DNA terms added or changed

It was MyHeritage’s turn in late December to amend its terms of service and, with two key exceptions, the changes are really minimal.

The amendments, effective 21 December 2023, are truly minor for the most part: some clarifying language about refunds, for example,¹ and a recognition that, while My Heritage generally requires users to be at least 13 years old (and 18 to use DNA services), the minimum age may vary in some countries.²

But in two specific areas the amendments are interesting and noteworthy.

First, just as MyHeritage rolled out services that depend on artificial intelligence tools — AI Record Finder and AI Biographer³ — it added terms of service covering those AI tools:

Both AI Record Finder™ and AI Biographer™ use automated third-party technology powered by OpenAI. These services can be used, at your option, to search and summarize a variety of different sources of data, including MyHeritage’s own data (which includes information supplied by other MyHeritage members) and data provided to MyHeritage by third-parties, to benefit your family history research. If you choose to use these services, now or in the future, you agree that the information you will enter during your searches, including personal information, will be shared with OpenAI and processed to provide you with the search results or with the AI Biography. You further agree that you will not enter sensitive personal information (also known as ‘special category data’ including, for example, health data or genetic data) in the chat interface. Note that AI Record Finder™ is not designed to prompt you to enter such information. As with any AI-based technology, the outputs of the AI Record Finder™ and AI Biographer™ services may contain mistakes.⁴

In other words, anything you enter using these tools becomes part of the AI data (and you can’t delete it), so don’t ever enter sensitive personal information like health or genetic data, and any output from the tools can be wrong.

That, by the way, is good advice with AI in general, and not just AI tools at MyHeritage.

Second, MyHeritage has expanded its language limiting the use of its DNA testing services in an effort to prevent any use except by current genealogists for genealogical purposes. It has long barred any use for “law enforcement purposes, forensic examinations, criminal investigations, “cold case” investigations, identification of unknown deceased people, location of relatives of deceased people using cadaver DNA, and/or all similar purposes” and even barred uploads of “DNA data obtained from archaeological excavations.”⁵

To those prohibitions, its updated terms add language that:

Uploading … “artifact DNA” (DNA data extracted from physical objects) to the Website is strictly prohibited. Uploading DNA data that was created or manipulated manually, or with the help of DNA reconstruction tools such as Othram or Borland Genetics, or by combining DNA data from multiple individuals into a new DNA data file, to the Website is strictly prohibited.⁶

The two named services — Othram and Borland Genetics — provide tools for law enforcement and/or genealogists to construct or improve samples that otherwise could not be used in testing comparisons. Othram works mostly with law enforcement; Borland helps reconstruct ancestral DNA samples for genealogists.⁷ Note that the MyHeritage language doesn’t apply just to these two but to all DNA reconstruction tools.

With these two exceptions, the terms of service changes aren’t much to write home about.

But these two should be noted by all.

Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “MyHeritage amends terms of service,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 7 Jan 2024).

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