One of the most common use cases of Artificial Intelligence at the moment is its ability to handle massive datasets, processing and interpreting them. A task that human data analysts would take ages to complete, if at all, is performed in no time, and without the possibility of human error. At the same time, the average person creates an increasingly larger digital footprint, leaving a trace in the form of a vast amount of personal information on the internet.
Corporations and governments, then, gather, store, and feed that information to powerful AI algorithms in order to learn as much as possible about that person for marketing (and other) purposes. All this has led to heated debates over the safety of our personal data and its potential misuse.
No doubt AI holds tremendous potential to disrupt and improve our lives, but there are some hidden traps and pitfalls that have to be discussed and overcome.
It depends on the point of view. Brands seem to need every single bit of information on their target audience in order to better understand their needs and preferences so that they can tailor the right marketing message.
While that’s in a way a legitimate thing, the rise of advanced technologies, including AI, has led this thirst for information to get in the way of their customers’ privacy.
Namely, before AI and big data analytics, it was impossible to properly interpret unstructured data coming from different sources and in different formats, which left a big chunk of information uninterpretable and thus unused.
But, once the technologies managed to crack this code and translate illegible data into the actual information, the concept of digital privacy became an issue.
In 2012, an incident showed how intimidatingly accurate data analytics can be, and what that means for an ordinary user. In an attempt to assist its customers in finding everything they might need, Target sent coupons for cribs and baby clothes to a high school girl through the mail. Her unsuspecting father went to complain, only to find out that this wasn’t just a random mistake – the store’s algorithm picked up different cues based on what kind of products the pregnant girl purchased and viewed.
Similarly, it’s possible to track and locate people with the help of their own mobile devices and wearables, which means that it’s virtually impossible to go off the radar and seclude oneself.
Voice and facial recognition additionally complicate things as these technologies are capable of completely obliterating anonymity in public places.
Although it’s somewhat comforting to know that this way many wrongdoings and crimes can be prevented and identified, the lack of regulations might put us all under surveillance. Besides, there are growing fears of misidentification and wrongful convictions. According to research studies, this technology isn’t accurate when it comes to identifying people of color, which can have grave consequences.
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal was just one in line of numerous incidents that demonstrated how unprotected our data is and how easy it is to obtain it, with almost no repercussions.
Just 20 years ago privacy was still a concept that existed only in the offline, physical world.
