In some respects I'm glad the US gets invasive updates before the UK, it means I get a longer warning, and this realm isn't always protected by EU regulations. I haven't used Photos for a while but I still need to warn others. One saving factor: even though the article never says it, this feature seems to be for backed-up media only, and not for on-device media.

Even if we migrate to something else and "delete" the photos from the cloud Google still has them, I'm sure they're training with them either way. Why wouldn't they when no AI companies ever seem to face any consequences?

I will start just using Immich from now on though

Save your photos elsewhere, start replacing photo subjects with ballsacks and buttholes. Allow Google to train its ai like normal.

Even if I migrate to a privacy-respecting FOSS solution, my friends, family, acquaintances and random people around me will not (well, some may). I will still be featured in their photos out of my control.

Ayup. That is the infurating thing. I can be careful. But ppl around me are not. Of course you u/l your pictures to big-tech! Everybody does!

TBH, I wanted to volunteer on a local crew that maintains hiking trails. I didn't... because they were all about taking endless pics and u/l it to their FB and maybe IG. So I avoided sth I wanted to do make my city better. But no way could I avoid their need to share everything with big tech.