Within the last few years, Ai has become an essential part of our daily life. A lot of our daily life activities have been more and more automated in the past decades (Western Governors University, 2022). Most people are already used to the idea of automatization and the fact that companies are collecting data from their customers. Nevertheless, the moment that our privacy is at risk, society realizes again how much power AI and Big Data have (Bruinsma, 2017).
An example of this matter is the OV year card in the Netherlands. Since the introduction of the OV card, most users have seen its benefits. However, in 2017 research showed that the NS was able to track its customers through the OV card (Bruinsma, 2017) and people were, to say it mildly, not amused. Based on the article and the reaction of the NS, it seems that society is unwilling to hand in some parts of their privacy. However, data could be seen as the lifeline of AI (Wijn, 2020). Multiple data scientists use the credo “Garbage in, Garbage out”. In other words, bad data leads to bad AI (Hillman, 2022). Therefore, to provide the best possible solutions through AI, it is important to have the best possible data. However, to protect customer’s privacy, governments have introduced new regulations to protect the data and personal information of people (Pentland & Rahnama, 2022). According to Forbes, these regulations do not make it impossible to get the most out of the data, but it does make it more difficult (Schrock, 2018). In a way this makes sense, to secure privacy, parts of the data have been left outside which impacts the original data.
All in all, it is time to realize that AI has the capability to provide outstanding results, but that the privacy of people in this society is just more important. This does not have to be a bad thing, but it has to be straightened out that the concept of AI is working fine. Other aspects, such as privacy regulations make it just more difficult to meet all expectations. Maybe it is time to realize that society can’t have both and have to choose between, the best possible AI or the best possible privacy regulations.
Bruinsma, G., 2017. ‘Privacy wordt geschonden door OV-chipkaart met abonnement’. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ad.nl/economie/privacy-wordt-geschonden-door-ov-chipkaart-met-abonnement~a4405fa0/
Hillman, J., 2022. Data quality and AI safety: 4 ways bad data affects AI and how to avoid it. [Online]
Available at: https://www.prolific.co/blog/data-quality-and-ai-safety
Pentland , S. & Rahnama, H., 2022. The New Rules of Data Privacy. [Online]
Available at: https://hbr.org/2022/02/the-new-rules-of-data-privacy
Schrock, E., 2018. Regulations Won’t Kill AI – Bad Data Will. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/09/04/regulations-wont-kill-ai-bad-data-will/?sh=1eb64e043405
Western Governors University, 2022. All the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence. [Online]
Available at: https://www.wgu.edu/blog/benefits-artificial-intelligence2204.html#close
Wijn, M., 2020. Waarom Artificial Intelligence nergens is zonder data intelligence. [Online]
Available at: https://news.sap.com/netherlands/2020/01/waarom-artificial-intelligence-zonder-data-intelligence-niets-is/
Strong privacy laws protect consumers from corporate exploitation. However, consumers could voluntarily relinquish some information if adequately compensated. This might lead to a solution in which privacy laws are upheld and companies are able to produce fantastic AI projects.