I recently attended a presentation by Dr. Markus Giesler, a professor at York University. He spoke about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but in an unexpected way. Rather than a tutorial on how it works, or what is the best chat tool, it was about reciprocity and how this technology is [unwittingly for us] shaping our lives.
Within their lives, my grandparents witnessed the transition from horse and buggy to putting a man on the moon. Our generation is witnessing a shift, maybe more significant, from a purely physical and mechanical world to one that is increasingly dominated by a coexistent virtual counterpart. This virtual world is individual to each of us and constructed from the digital records of our activities, and it becomes more comprehensive each year as more of our activities are digitized.
For example, through my smartphone I can control most things in our house, including the lights, appliances, heating, cooling, and security. I can bank online, trade stocks, buy any number of items, plan a trip, and book my flights, hotels, etc. We are approaching a point where all physical activities have a virtualized analogue.
Everything in this virtual world is instrumented, meaning every action we take leaves a digital footprint, which can be compiled to create a detailed portrait of our identities, preferences, and behaviours. Each year the Washington Post sends me a summary of my interests based on the news articles I read in their paper. This is an example of a broader trend where, for example, Google tracks your on-line activity to better align their advertising with your needs. It all sounds very innocuous.
Dr. Giesler positioned this monitoring under the umbrella of surveillance capitalism, a concept where everything we do is tracked and processed for business purposes. Yet the insight I drew was how pervasive is this surveillance. Dr. Giesler talked about his drone and how it can provide the video it takes not only to him, but also the drone’s manufacturer. Or how the robot I use to clean our floors keeps a floor plan, which is also shared with the manufacturer. No wonder Amazon wanted to buy iRobot. Not to mention what Alexa listens to.
Yet data collection is only half the story. The other side is when these data are processed and used to shape my actions, my view of events, how I see and interpret the world. The subtle power of advertising to go beyond informing me of product availability to shaping what I think I need or “algorithms” that shape what I watch on TV, which news I see. Am I losing my agency? A totalitarian regime that demands all businesses like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Banks, Tesla, etc. provide all the digital footprints they have collected would have an unprecedented view of each of us and the ability to shape how we see that government, its actions and its policies.
Something to think about.
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