When it comes to AI:
‘We should be closer to Berlin than Boston‘
Yes, that’s me reworking Mary Harney’s famous quote in the Irish Times’ special report on AI’s risks and rewards.
Within the article, which you can read here, I share my concerns surrounding the use of AI platforms.
The risks
There are some ‘obvious’ concerns. For example, the scale of ‘meta data’ these tools can collect behind the scenes (from prompts to location, IP address, and device info) is very.. interesting.
But more importantly, I have significant concerns about the emerging conflict between the US tech bros’ focus on profit-driven innovation and the EU’s focus on rights-driven regulation.
The pain and the value of regulations like GDPR
My interview took me back to when I used to work with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and Pembroke Privacy to deliver IAPP’s CIPP/E training to future Data Protection Officers. Even in those pre-GDPR days, we all recognised the pain of understanding every letter of the GDPR, but we also recognised the underlying value captured within the spirit of it.
Because regulations like GDPR do not exist because Europe is against capitalism. They exist because Europe has direct experience of what happens when governments and authoritarian regimes can perform deep and persistent surveillance and manipulation of citizens.
And AI could lead us into a world where this type or surveillance and manipulation gets some serious rocket fuel.
Where is this leading us?
As I said in the article, we’re on a collision course between “the EU’s perspective, which is that all this starts with fundamental human rights and part of that is our right to privacy, fair treatment and transparency [and] the US [which] starts with capitalism and what works for the tech bros.”
While not everything Europe is doing right now is right and proportionate, I honestly feel that on this one, we should be closer to Berlin than we are to Boston.
Anyway, enough with the philosophical discussion!
What is the one thing you can do today to reduce the risks?
Develop and enforce a clear policy around the use of AI – e.g. What tools can be used and what can they be used for.
Because your people need very clear rules and guidance on how they can safely engage with this rewarding but risky world of AI.
I don’t claim to be an AI expert, and I recognise that I am a privacy nerd.
So, what do you think?
Is the EU too risk averse and going too far with regulations?