People pay a high price for the development of modern AI.
Slate published an article by Bruce Schneier, an American cryptographer, writer, computer security specialist, and board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and AccessNow, which addresses the problem of tracking and espionage in the era of artificial intelligence development.
According to the article, the last decade has seen significant changes in surveillance and espionage practices. In the past, tracking required significant time and financial costs, including personal surveillance of a person, tracking their movements, meetings, and purchases. However, in today's world, where technology has become an integral part of our lives, mass surveillance has become commonplace. Phones track our location, credit cards track our purchases, apps track who we talk to, and e – books track what we read. What used to be an individual and manual process has now become a massive and automated event. Tracking has become the Internet's business model, and we can't really abandon it.
Espionage, in turn, always involved tapping phones or installing bugs, but this required human labor to analyze the information collected. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), this situation will change dramatically. Modern generative AI systems are already able to create summaries from long meetings, analyze millions of conversations, and sort them by topic. This means that we will soon enter the era of mass espionage.
Mass surveillance has changed the nature of surveillance, allowing it to be carried out retroactively and without knowing a specific target. Similarly, mass espionage will change the nature of espionage. All data will be saved and can be searched and understood en masse. This will allow you to find out who has discussed a particular topic over the past month, how discussions have developed, identify conspiracies, spread rumors, or plan to participate in political protests.
Such espionage will not be limited to our phones or computers. Just as cameras everywhere contributed to mass surveillance, microphones everywhere will contribute to mass espionage. Siri, Alexa, and "Hello Google" are already always listening – conversations just aren't saved yet.
Awareness of constant surveillance changes people's behavior. People begin to conform, to "self-censor", which has a deterrent effect. Surveillance promotes social control, and spying will only make this problem worse. Governments around the world are already using mass surveillance and will certainly engage in mass espionage.
Corporations will also spy on people. Mass tracking ushered in the era of personalized advertising. Mass espionage will only strengthen the industry. Information about what people are talking about, their moods, their secrets — all this is a temptation for marketers looking for an advantage. The tech monopolies that already keep us under constant surveillance will not be able to resist the temptation to collect and use all this data.
We could limit this possibility, prohibit mass espionage, and adopt strict data privacy rules. But we haven't done anything to limit mass surveillance. Why would espionage be any different?
Slate published an article by Bruce Schneier, an American cryptographer, writer, computer security specialist, and board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and AccessNow, which addresses the problem of tracking and espionage in the era of artificial intelligence development.
According to the article, the last decade has seen significant changes in surveillance and espionage practices. In the past, tracking required significant time and financial costs, including personal surveillance of a person, tracking their movements, meetings, and purchases. However, in today's world, where technology has become an integral part of our lives, mass surveillance has become commonplace. Phones track our location, credit cards track our purchases, apps track who we talk to, and e – books track what we read. What used to be an individual and manual process has now become a massive and automated event. Tracking has become the Internet's business model, and we can't really abandon it.
Espionage, in turn, always involved tapping phones or installing bugs, but this required human labor to analyze the information collected. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), this situation will change dramatically. Modern generative AI systems are already able to create summaries from long meetings, analyze millions of conversations, and sort them by topic. This means that we will soon enter the era of mass espionage.
Mass surveillance has changed the nature of surveillance, allowing it to be carried out retroactively and without knowing a specific target. Similarly, mass espionage will change the nature of espionage. All data will be saved and can be searched and understood en masse. This will allow you to find out who has discussed a particular topic over the past month, how discussions have developed, identify conspiracies, spread rumors, or plan to participate in political protests.
Such espionage will not be limited to our phones or computers. Just as cameras everywhere contributed to mass surveillance, microphones everywhere will contribute to mass espionage. Siri, Alexa, and "Hello Google" are already always listening – conversations just aren't saved yet.
Awareness of constant surveillance changes people's behavior. People begin to conform, to "self-censor", which has a deterrent effect. Surveillance promotes social control, and spying will only make this problem worse. Governments around the world are already using mass surveillance and will certainly engage in mass espionage.
Corporations will also spy on people. Mass tracking ushered in the era of personalized advertising. Mass espionage will only strengthen the industry. Information about what people are talking about, their moods, their secrets — all this is a temptation for marketers looking for an advantage. The tech monopolies that already keep us under constant surveillance will not be able to resist the temptation to collect and use all this data.
We could limit this possibility, prohibit mass espionage, and adopt strict data privacy rules. But we haven't done anything to limit mass surveillance. Why would espionage be any different?
