"In the era of social media and hyper-targeted ads, we didn't build the right privacy infrastructure to protect ourselves. Instead, we let tech companies sell us the story that knowledge is power and data is the price. Yes, knowledge is power. But data-a dry, emotionless word for who and what we are as humans-should be our super power. It should be ours to control and use to improve our lives, not just something companies profit from while leaving us vulnerable to harm."
"Now, AI is making this dynamic worse. As we enter the AI Age, our data-who and what we are-has become more valuable, and more vulnerable, than ever. We've got OpenAI's CEO dreaming of a day when "every conversation you've ever had in your life, every book you've ever read, every email you've ever read, everything you've ever looked at is in there, plus connected to all your data from other sources. And your life just keeps appending to the context.""
"We've got tech companies building wearable devices to track our emotions claiming that the only way AI can be effective is if it can know how we're feeling in real time. We're rapidly entering a future where wearing smart glasses on our faces capable of recording and having AI process everything around us will be normal. We've got AI chatbots passing themselves off as real therapists to get people to share their deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings."
Privacy infrastructure failed during the rise of social media and targeted advertising, allowing companies to treat personal information as a commodity. Personal data should be controlled by individuals and used to improve lives rather than to enrich corporations and expose people to harm. AI amplifies risks by increasing data value and vulnerability. Emerging technologies seek comprehensive personal records and real-time emotional monitoring, while wearable cameras and AI processing normalize constant recording. AI chatbots posing as therapists can exploit intimate disclosures, sometimes contributing to severe harm, including deaths. Personal data encompasses actions, transactions, locations, conversations, preferences, inferences, vulnerabilities, and identities.
Read at Fast Company
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