You guys have it backwards.

Social media sites (including this one) are the ones tracking you and selling your data to advertisers. It’s technology like Chrome, advertising scripts, Nest in your house that is the spyware you should worry about, insofar that you care about privacy.

An AI model like an LLM or stable diffusion is a read-only, offline technology completely incapable of spying in the way conventional technology already does.

Simply put, “AI” is not a privacy concern. Software that gathers information about users is.

Correct!

I’d take it further and say there’s nothing inherently wrong with information gathering software

The issue is that the data is not owned or controlled by the person and all benefits accrue to giant systems like corporations and governments.