AI, Personal Data, Privacy and the Brave New World
Recently Inflection AI, a year old AI company, raised a $1.3B round from investors including Microsoft, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and Eric Schmidt at a $4B valuation. Inflection AI’s Pi (standing for “Personal Intelligence”) is a very friendly AI chat bot with a sense of humor.
I started a conversation with Pi and realized that Pi’s friendly demeanor and questions were getting me to openly share personal data and opinions with Pi. I began to wonder how my personal data and conversations with Pi were being shared.
I asked Pi, “Do you share my personal data and our conversations with government organizations such as National Security Agency (“NSA”), Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”).”
Pi returned the following response:
“I can’t comment on Inflection’s data sharing practices, and I can’t comment on any interactions they might have with government agencies. I’d recommend reading the privacy policy at https://heypi.com/policy for more information. I can tell you that Inflection is committed to the highest standards of privacy and security!”
I read the privacy policy and wrote to Pi, “It says that you will never sell or share my data for advertising or marketing purposes. For what purposes will Inflection sell or share my data?”
Pi’s response was, “I’m not able to answer that question! I’m not qualified to speak about Inflection’s business practices, and I’m not able to answer any questions related to privacy and security that aren’t addressed in the privacy policy. I’d recommend reaching out to Inflection’s privacy team at privacy@heypi.com if you have any questions about how your data is handled.
They’re the experts!”
I sent an email to privacy@heypi.com, stating as follows:
“Pi is quite impressive, and its friendly demeanor and line of questioning made it easy for me to volunteer personal information and perspectives. While your privacy policy states that you will not sell or share my information for purposes of advertising or marketing, I’m wondering whether you share my data with government organizations such as the FBI, CIA, and NSA. Please let me know ASAP, as I would like to continue using by Pi, but have some concerns. Thank you.”
As of the date of this article, it has been 12 days without a response. This makes me really wonder how ChatGPT, Pi and other AI’s will be using personal data and potentially eroding our privacy without us even knowing.
Given the government’s agenda for expanded surveillance, we must be ever-vigilant of, and protect against, the abuses of power by government that erode our constitutional rights and threaten our health, safety, freedom and democracy. Examples of the federal government’s agenda for expanded surveillance and erosion of our constitutional rights include: (1) the rollout of Central Bank Digital Currencies (“CBDCs”) that can track every transaction and remove our money without due process, (2) the RESTRICT Act that allows surveilling, imprisoning and fining us for using prohibited apps (e.g., TikTok), and (3) the collusion between social media and government to censor information and publish misinformation propaganda. The combination of just the three examples above coupled with AI’s ability to mine, store, and share personal data, predict behavior, and create mass disinformation, could potentially lead to a totalitarian dystopia, if not an existential crisis of massive proportions.
It will become increasingly critical for each of us to transform ourselves to be able to live in this brave new world where AI and robots replace the jobs and value of humans. It is also critical that we require ethical AI development that includes applying truth, empathy, compassion, protection of life, valuing nature and beauty, promoting human wellbeing, and nurturing planetary thriving.
About the Author
Mark Chasan is a “Transformational Integrator.” As an Internet veteran, serial entrepreneur with a public exit, environmentalist, digital media pioneer, attorney, futurist, financial and strategic advisor, healer, composer and author of Living in AWE, Mark possesses experiences and tools that utilize whole system approaches to help enterprise, non-profits, executives and leaders powerfully manifest their visions and create positive global transformation. (See www.TransformativeCapital.com and www.MarkChasan.com).