Utilizing technology such as AI can often lead to inadvertent or unwilling exposure of private data, such as age, location, and preferences. Tracking companies gather this information and use it to tailor your online experience. We currently live in a time of vast amounts of data creation, with the quantity doubling every two years. While we have unparalleled access to information, it comes at the cost of our private data – a trade of Data for Data. Even a seemingly harmless internet search can result in a barrage of targeted ads. How do these ads align with our interests, and what is the mechanism behind their appearance?
In most cases, the utilization of technology such as AI leads leaks private data such as age, location, and preferences. Tracking companies gather this information and use it to customize your online experience, and may even sell this data to other entities without your knowledge or consent. This blog aims to explore how AI is accessing our private data, jeopardizing our privacy in this so-called modern era. Additionally, we will delve into the extent of user and customer concerns regarding their privacy.
Artificial Intelligence is Two Faced (just like your ex)
The business landscape is experiencing a transformative shift, thanks to AI’s ability to overcome various challenges. With vast amounts of data at their disposal, businesses can benefit from powerful, granular, speedy, and accurate analysis. Facial recognition, for instance, has numerous advantages across various sectors of human life. The abundance of digital photographs on websites, social media platforms, and surveillance cameras has enabled facial recognition to evolve from identifying cats to recognizing humans more precisely.
However, AI’s progress comes with a downside. The massive volumes of data fed into AI-driven algorithms are vulnerable to data breaches, and personal data may be generated without the individual’s consent. Additionally, facial recognition tools are encroaching on our privacy, leading to calls for their prohibition. Several countries, including China, are advocating for a ban on facial recognition. Some US states, such as California, Oregon, and New Hampshire, have enacted legislation prohibiting the use of facial recognition cameras.
Consequently, AI is raising privacy concerns for consumers and users. Although undoubtedly a significant blessing, AI carries with it a legitimate risk: the violation of human rights, particularly our “Privacy.”
“Privacy? What’s that?”
Customers have always been concerned about their private information, but today, organizations are using Big Data Analytics to take actions that may compromise consumer privacy. This breach of privacy can lead to uncomfortable situations for consumers, even in the presence of their loved ones.
Around a decade ago, Target developed an AI algorithm that predicted whether any of its female customers were pregnant based on their purchase history. The company then sent them coupons via mail. While this predictive action seemed beneficial, it proved problematic when a woman was hesitant to disclose her pregnancy to her father, but the mailed coupon inadvertently revealed her personal information.
The digitization of health information has presented significant challenges for the healthcare industry, which must protect vast amounts of confidential and sensitive information. Protected health information (PHI) of patients has become extremely valuable, as patients expect their health conditions to be kept confidential without their permission. In 2019, the NHS Foundation Trust provided data on 1.6 million patients to Alphabet’s DeepMind without obtaining patients’ permission to share their private data. Google canceled plans to broadcast chest X-ray scans due to patients’ concerns that the scans contained personally identifiable information. Similarly, Microsoft removed the MS Celeb data set, containing more than 10 million images of 100,000 celebrities, after concerns that some individuals were not even aware of being included in the dataset.
Extracting Private Data
The advent of modern technologies, such as surveillance cameras, smartphones, and the internet, has made collecting our private data easier than ever before. In this digital era, it is effortless to track users’ interests and activities, from their conversations at home to their searches for products or visits to restaurants. In addition to the unconscious revealing of personal data, we are also uploading personal data on social media by ourselves. For example, we may take several pictures of food or products we like at a restaurant or store and post them online. Most of this data is transferred to cloud computers, which significantly increases the probability of tracking this personal information.
How AI manipulates our private data for non-intended purposes?
Undoubtedly, AI systems benefit from collecting users’ private data to enhance their performance. However, this practice is not without risks. One of these risks is the use of private data for unintended purposes, which users may not know about, including how it will be processed, where it will be used, or even sold. Generally, private data is used for programmatic advertising to encourage people to purchase products. Nevertheless, AI systems and robots can also manipulate this private data. The Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 illustrated how personal data collected through Facebook could be used to manipulate elections.
FAQs
How does AI access our private data?
In the digital era, technology such as surveillance cameras, smartphones, and the internet make collecting private data easier than ever before. Users’ interests and activities can be tracked, from their conversations at home to their searches for products or visits to restaurants. Additionally, we also upload personal data on social media platforms by ourselves, which increases the probability of tracking this information.
What are the risks associated with AI and private data?
One of the risks is the use of private data for unintended purposes, including how it will be processed, where it will be used, or even sold. Private data is typically used for programmatic advertising to encourage people to purchase products, but AI systems and robots can also manipulate this data. The Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 demonstrated how personal data collected through Facebook could be used to manipulate elections.
What are the concerns regarding AI and privacy violations for consumers and users?
Customers have always been concerned about their private information, but organizations today are using Big Data Analytics to take actions that may compromise consumer privacy. Breaches of privacy can lead to uncomfortable situations for consumers, even in the presence of their loved ones. For example, Target’s AI algorithm predicted whether any of its female customers were pregnant based on their purchase history, and the company sent them coupons via mail, inadvertently revealing their personal information.
How does AI manipulate private data for non-intended purposes?
AI systems benefit from collecting users’ private data to enhance their performance. However, one of the risks is the use of private data for unintended purposes, including how it will be processed, where it will be used, or even sold. Generally, private data is used for programmatic advertising to encourage people to purchase products. Nevertheless, AI systems and robots can also manipulate this private data, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 demonstrated how personal data collected through Facebook could be used to manipulate elections.
What is the dichotomous nature of AI?
AI’s progress comes with a downside. The massive volumes of data fed into AI-driven algorithms are vulnerable to data breaches, and personal data may be generated without the individual’s consent. Facial recognition tools, for example, are encroaching on our privacy, leading to calls for their prohibition. While AI has numerous advantages across various sectors of human life, it carries with it a legitimate risk: the violation of human rights, particularly our “Privacy.”
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