Data scientist Wes Chaar was at home a few years ago, working with the tools of his trade, when he had an “aha!” moment. He realized the information he was looking at would let him predict not only what people would buy and how they’d vote, but also how they’d feel about their choices. Those people might not have shared those feelings with anyone, but Chaar could foresee they’d be there.
How are people supposed to defend their privacy in the face of that power? All those user agreements we click without reading, and those assurances that our data is “anonymized” before it’s crunched, are no protection at all. It’s a more urgent and pervasive problem now, as AI and robots enter take more tasks in people’s lives (whether they want them or not). Knowing that Google or Amazon can figure out so much about you from your searches on their sites, imagine how much more they’ll know as they’re connected to AIs that write your emails, give you vacation ideas and track your sleep and mood; or to robots that clean the house and entertain the kids.
Chaar believes we’re at a crucial juncture. Now, before AI and robots are woven into everything, is our collective chance to reshape the terms of the bargain with all those data hungry services that companies are so eager for us to use.
In his new book, Data Independence, Chaar proposes a new deal for information: A system for keeping control of information even as we share it so that our AI and robot assistants can do their work. We talked about this proposal, as well as the overarching issues — what is privacy? How can we get around a paralyzed political system to enact changes? What’s the strat for getting around the opposition of companies that like today’s wide-open data-plucking regime? And a lot of other vital topics. Give a listen!
As always, the transcript is AI generated and may contain some errors.
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