5/5 (1)

Looking at news articles nowadays, it is not surprising anymore when you find an article about a recent data breach. Data-driven businesses are a great source for hackers. In only the first 6 months of 2018, there were 945 breaches, which affected 4.5 billion records (Ross 2018).

However, the amount of breaches does not always indicate the scope of the problem. For example, in Europe there was a decline of 36 percent in the amount of breaches. Nevertheless, there was still a rise of 28 percent in the number of records that were breached. This shows the increased severity of breaches (Ross 2018).

Social media is the biggest industry that is threatened with breaches, as it is attractive to hackers due to the significant amount of users on the platforms. For example, Facebook suffered from a security hack last month. This breach affected approximately 30 million people (Kastrenakes 2018). Personal information such as your name, contact details, gender, religion, education, work, current city etc. were obtained. The amount of personal information that was taken, depends on what a user chose to show on their public ‘’view as’’ profile. (Olson 2018).

Furthermore, the severity of the breach could also depend on what kind of information is taken. For example, a Dutch insurance company, Achmea, was victim of a data breach last August. Information of ten thousand people were obtained. This included very personal and sensitive information, such as people’s name, social security number, home address and payment amounts (NU 2018a).

The problem goes beyond companies. According to research of the Data Protection Authority,  the Dutch taxation authorities do not adhere to the law regarding data security (Kleinnijenhuis 2018). The Dutch taxation authorities do not record when and which employees search for personal information. They state that it is ‘technically impossible’ to secure personal data. Consequently, they cannot guarantee that privacy sensitive personal data will become accessible to outsiders and the central database with information of all citizens is unsecure (Kleinnijenhuis 2018; NU 2018b).

In my opinion, governments and companies are still not doing enough to prevent these breaches. The Facebook example is one of many, where companies state they do everything to protect your data, users can shield their profile, but a wide range of information can apparently still be obtained. Moreover, the explanation ‘technically impossible’ is far from sufficient coming from a national authority.

What do you think about this and what should companies and the government do in your opinion?

 

Sources:

https://www.nu.nl/internet/5511557/gegevens-van-zon-tienduizend-verzekerden-achmea-uitgelekt.html

https://www.nu.nl/internet/5510012/belastingdienst-heeft-beveiliging-persoonsgegevens-nog-niet-orde.html

https://www.information-age.com/data-breaches-compromised-4-5-billion-records-123475313/

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/12/17968562/facebook-hack-how-to-tell-if-data-stolen

http://digg.com/2018/facebook-hack-30-million-users-contact-info-2fa

https://www.trouw.nl/home/beveiliging-van-persoonsgegevens-bij-de-belastingdienst-blijft-ondermaats~a8648a26/

5/5 (1)

Think about how much time you spend on your social media each day. Social media was expected to facilitate connectivity between people and be a solution for isolation and loneliness. However, the opposite has happened (Bird 2018). Nowadays, people are spending more time on their phone than actually socializing. Moreover, social media is mirroring a perfect world, which can lead to people comparing their lives and feeling dissatisfied.

Experts are now looking at possibilities of using AI in order to counter this negative effect. Additionally, AI could help with getting more people treated. The amount of people suffering from a mental illness is growing, yet only a small group is getting the treatment they need. Waiting lists for therapy sessions are long and other people do not seek help due to the costs. However, currently AI is mostly a supporting system for mental healthcare. AI can assist current therapists, making it possible for therapists to treat more people (Stix 2018).

An example of AI used in mental healthcare is ‘Tess’, which is a mental health chatbot. Tess is an instant messaging application through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS and web browsers. Tess provides personalized mental health care services, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, coaching and psychotherapy. She evaluates how people are feeling with an emotion algorithm and recognizes when there is a downward trend. The emotion algorithm is combined with a natural language processing algorithm, enabling Tess to understand what a person is talking about (Berman 2016). Moreover, Tess does not use pre-selected responses, she is designed to react to shifting information. She remembers what people say and is able to mention it again at a later time. When she thinks the mental illness becomes more severe, she will connect you to a therapist (Gionet 2018)

Tess is available at all times and users do not have to pay an hourly fee, which could lead to many more people seeking help. However, it still has its practical limits; personal contact and the connection between patients and therapist is an important aspect of the success of a treatment.

The question remains what effect these chatbots will have in the future, when AI might not be used as a ‘’partner’’ of a therapist, but as the therapist itself.

 

References:

Berman, A. (2015). Bridging the mental healthcare gap with Artificial Intelligence. [online] Singularityhub. Available at: https://singularityhub.com/2016/10/10/bridging-the-mental-healthcare-gap-with-artificial-intelligence/ [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].

Bird, R. (2018). AI soon to be your best friend and mental health therapist?. [online] Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Available at: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/ai-soon-to-be-your-bff-and-mental-health-therapist-1802.html [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].

Gionet, K. (2018). Meet Tess: The mental health chatbot that thinks like a therapist. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/25/meet-tess-the-mental-health-chatbot-that-thinks-like-a-therapist [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].

Stix, C. (2018). 3 ways AI could help our mental health. [online] weforum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/3-ways-ai-could-could-be-used-in-mental-health/ [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].