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- 🔆 I have nothing to hide, so why should I care?
🔆 I have nothing to hide, so why should I care?
Data privacy and why it matters, DeepSeek and Team Lumiera in Paris.
Emma G Moller & Allegra Guinan
January 30, 2025
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🗞️ Issue 55 // ⏱️ Read Time: 8 min
Hello 👋
Imagine someone hacks your self-driving car, your cloud storage with all your photos, documents, and passwords is breached, the hospital systems crash, your bank account is emptied, or that a stalker that creates a whole website about you.
You would probably prefer not to have any of these things happening to you. If you run a business or organization, it’s likely that you want to avoid being associated with events like these. Yet the response to privacy concerns often remains: "I have nothing to hide." This mindset fundamentally misunderstands what's at stake in our AI-enabled future. We will show you why that is the case.
In this week's newsletter
What we’re talking about: Data privacy in the AI era, moving beyond simplistic notions of secrecy to understanding privacy as a fundamental aspect of human agency.
How it’s relevant: As AI systems become more sophisticated and integrated into our daily lives, they don't just collect data - they map the intricate patterns of our existence. While this enables remarkable innovations, it also creates new vulnerabilities and challenges for individuals, businesses, and society as a whole.
Why it matters: The decisions we make about privacy today will shape not just our personal security, but the future of AI development and if it will enhance or diminish our ability to make autonomous choices about our lives.
Big tech news of the week…
🌊 DeepSeek is making waves: A Chinese OpenSource language model has markets shaking. The situation is moving quite fast, creating awareness of the scaling race, geopolitics, hardware vs. software, and other dynamics.
🍎Two new vulnerabilities have been discovered in Apple's latest M-series and A-series chips, potentially allowing attackers to steal sensitive data like browsing history and credit card information from Safari and Chrome browsers on affected devices.
🌍 Trump declared a freeze on federal scientific grants, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked it, as the order could be deemed illegal.
📱 New research shows that people are more open to use AI, the less they know about it. The difference in adoption propensity is called the “lower literacy-higher receptivity” link.
🇫🇷 AI Action Summit 6 - 11 February gathers Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, CEOs of small and large companies, representatives of academia, non-governmental organizations, artists and members of civil society. Team Lumiera is going and we will share our observations with you.
The New Privacy Landscape
Privacy once meant simple things - drawing curtains, speaking in hushed tones, keeping personal documents under lock and key. Now, each digital interaction creates an intricate map of our lives. Your morning news preferences, shopping habits, and entertainment choices aren't just isolated data points - they're pieces of a detailed behavioral profile that AI systems can analyze and interpret.
Data privacy generally means the ability of a person to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent personal information about them is shared with or communicated to others. This personal information is any information that can identify a person, from someone's name and address to their device identifier and account number. That work e-mail that you uploaded to ChatGPT to help you draft a response? It probably contained personal information. Your IP address too, as it potentially can be used to identify an individual (yes, the individual we are talking about here is you).
Beyond “nothing to hide”
"Privacy has grown from a compliance matter to a customer requirement," notes a recent industry report. The reason is clear: AI doesn't just collect data - it comprehends patterns. Your location history might reveal religious practices or health conditions. Shopping patterns could expose financial circumstances. Driving habits, gathered by smart vehicles, might influence insurance rates or job prospects.
The real privacy concern isn't about hiding misdeeds - it's about protecting the basic patterns of our lives from being transformed into predictive models without our informed consent. When AI systems can infer your political leanings, mental health status, or major life changes before you've chosen to share them, privacy becomes a matter of personal autonomy rather than secrecy.