In my work i am fully involved in trying to give citizens more control of their data, protect their privacy as much as possible. Implementation of GDPR among other things can help to improve the rights of european citizens with regard to data. However i have the feeling many people and politicians are missing the big picture. In the end privacy is not the most important subject, not for governments and not for companies. It's about AI and the power that comes with it. Roughly speaking, data, cloud computing, specialised hardware, algorithms and human talent are the ingredients for delivering succesful AI services. As AI moves towards more applications and slowly becomes a more general purpose technology, big companies (Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Baidu and others) are gearing up to become the dominant players. Although dataleaks, privacy breaches, webcookies, search monopolies are all relevant subjects, they are subjects from yesterday. Governments should worry more about tomorow. Improve conditions or even fund european initiatives that can form some counter weight against the current dominant AI players in the US and China, develop a european vision on AI which respects our core values with regard to data protection, demand certification of AI services in the EU, take more control of data streams as
Morozov argued. These are some actions that could be taken.
One could argue that future AI services will not necessarily be centralised but more to the edge/decentralised ( i certainly hope so) but still the danger of a few to dominant suppliers of crucial technologies is then present.
We need a vibrant and diverse worldwide market of AI suppliers, not a market dominated by a few players which such powers that governments will need to negotiate with them to improve life for their citizens. AI needs to be developed according to the wishes and demands of the democratic societies in which it is applied. Not only with the goal of maximising shareholder value. The time for government action on this is now. AI will shape future society we can't afford not having a say in that.
Reacties