Tattletale Cars and The Power of Data in Digital Age

People often make jokes about how Tech moguls like Mark Zuckerberg are hard core data lovers. In the sense that they’d do anything for data. That’s why Meta consists of so many apps that nowadays it’s hard to run a business or even live in this digital age without at least one of these apps. Whatsapp, which was acquired by Meta way back in 2014, has proved to be one of their most profitable purchases ever. 

“Knowledge is Power”, the saying goes, but now more than ever it has really become “Data is Power”. 

He who has all the data, in reality, has the power. This is why, especially with AI in the picture, companies are hunting for data. Today, we’re going to be looking at some examples of how powerful data can be and why you should be concerned about it.

So you probably know Reddit

But if you don't, here's a brief background:

Ok, so way back in the earlier stages of the internet, there were open forums where people would go on to discuss different topics. There could be a forum on the Premier League and another forum could be on a popular movie like X-Men. All the forums were separate and singular, each existing on its own disparately. There wasn’t any cohesion of any sort until platforms like Reddit came about where there would be “subreddits” each designed like a forum but linked centrally by Reddit. 

Reddit was a success and as a result, it garnered millions of users worldwide. But one thing that the platform has never been able to separate itself from is controversy. Without going into unnecessary details, some poor business decisions have cost them  support and maybe a couple of users too. But it hasn’t really mattered because some weeks ago, it was reported that Reddit had made a deal with an unnamed AI company to sell its data at a whopping $60 million per year. What does this mean?

Well basically, for an AI model (like GPT4 and others) to grow, it needs to be trained, the same way a person needs to go to school to learn. I’ll give an example:

This is a prompt I asked ChatGPT (with GPT3.5)

And another one

Well for those who didn’t know, Vladimir Putin did win the 2024 presidential elections but obviously ChatGPT had no idea of that. I guess you can see where I’m going with this…

While it may be true that tech companies that aren’t integrating AI into their products may not succeed much longer, companies like Reddit that have tons and tons of data from over the years can still make the most of the situation by selling their data for profit.

You may be wondering “Isn’t it illegal to take people’s data and sell it for money?”

Nope. It isn’t. Not on Reddit at least.

So now, some AI model in some country is being trained by your data that you typed out of boredom a couple of years ago. The thought of it is just scary to me. I don’t want some program having the ability to talk to me in statements tailored according to my likes and dislikes, without me even knowing it’s not human.

My second and final example is in electric vehicles. A report by Kashmir Hill in the New York Times shows that people with electric vehicles may actually be having their data recorded and being given to their insurance providers which is resulting in higher premiums. This is a usage based form of insurance and has data at the centre of it. General Motors cars for example have the OnStar mode which is actually recording this driving data, like speeding, breaking and accelerating data, and giving it to data brokers who then release it to insurance companies.

So what should we do?

Well obviously you may not change the way you’re driving but these modes can be switched off manually by the users. This blocks monitoring and hinders your data from being taken. Also for cases like social media. Users have to be conscious of what information they release to the world on these platforms. By recognizing the value of our data and taking proactive steps to protect it, we can ensure a safer and more resilient digital future for generations to come.

Thanks for reading and see you next week