For those of you who think this is just another blog on increasing your productivity, I assure you this isn’t. So, what is this blog about, you ask?
Being a person who likes to see solutions rather than problems, I would like to provide the answers to some of the most challenging problems faced by humanity. The big question which might be bugging you now is why did I decide to write this blog when, like others, I could just keep on doing my work believing a time would come when I would get the chance to get rid of these problems? This is because I have always tried to do what I felt like doing and not what the world wanted (This may be one of the reasons why I did not score well in academics). Not just this, but I also realized, maybe too soon, that life is really short and you never know what’s going to happen the next moment.
Here, in this blog, I am going to give my opinions on the most pressing current issues faced by humanity and related to technology. I would also provide plausible solutions to these problems. There will be articles on anything and almost everything concerning technology from AI to net neutrality to internet privacy. So, stay tuned and updated.
It has been more than a week since I last posted. Everyone alright there? No, I am not asking you this because I didn’t write for a week but because something really important happened this week. And, I am not talking about my personal life (my personal life is really shitty. Hell, everyone else’s life is too). I am talking about the decision taken by the nine-judge bench of Supreme Court of India on privacy. The nine-judge bench unanimously held that right to privacy is a guaranteed fundamental right.
When countries like US and China have legally allowed companies, in one or the other way, to breach your privacy, the Supreme Court of India ruling brings hope to its citizens. Due to this rule, the Government of India and, for that fact, other companies and data-brokers would not be able to sell or use your data for making a profit without your permission. Now, if you say something like ‘I am a common person. My privacy does not matter!’ or ‘It will have no effect on me’, I would say you couldn’t be more wrong. Suppose someone was keeping a close eye on you, when did you wake up, when you had a bath, what food you ate and at what time, and every other private activity that you wouldn’t normally share with a stranger. Many of us would try to report suspicious behavior to the police. But what if this was legal. I mean what if anyone could keep an eye on you, your activities and whatever you did. You would be freaked out, right? At least I would be.
As of now, it would have become clear that our data is being used by these companies and data-brokers. But how much is our data being sold for? According to IRL (In Real Life), an original podcast by Mozilla, host Veronica Belmont gives us an estimate. She says, “that’s a really difficult number to come up with. But, here’s an example, to get the names, addresses and emails of 5000 people in Chicago who live within a 5-mile radius of a cookie store and who all have kids under 15, who might like to buy choco-chip cookies, a list of that costs $600. So, on an average, your data is worth 10 cents. But then again that’s just for cookies.”
We don’t really care about our privacy, either. Now, some of you would say, ‘You are wrong, I do!’. To these people, I would ask, when was the last time that you read the Terms and Conditions of using Facebook or Twitter? Did you know Twitter’s Terms and Conditions make the content posted on it “available to other companies, organizations or individuals” who can then re-publish it? What this means is, if I post my article on Twitter, my article content can be copied without my permission. So, my original content could also become some other organizations content and I would not be able to do anything about it (This sucks!).
This could also mean one news company could copy another news company’s content and then re-publish it. Here’s a snapshot of the Twitter’s Terms of Service
Although, the Supreme Court of India held that privacy is a fundamental human right, but it did not address problems like, to what extent can a company use an individual’s data?, how can we restrict companies from collecting private data of individuals, and more importantly stop them from selling an individual’s data.
As I said in my very first post, this would be the section where I would discuss my own suggestions. Actually, there is no easy way around. Fight for online privacy is not a battle, it’s a war. But, there are ways one can avoid his/her personal data from being used by these companies. If you are a beginner and know nothing about internet privacy, start with this article on Wikipedia. If you have some idea of what it is, then read blogs from non-profit organizations like, the Mozilla Foundation, “the proudly non-profit champions of the Internet, helping to keep it healthy, open and accessible to all”. (You can find links to some of these blogs and important sites below).
But, just reading the articles won’t help. Remember, your opinion matters. So, volunteer in activities conducted by these non-profit organizations.
It has been a while since I last posted. And after the big talks I put into my first article, here comes my second article. So, let me begin by putting my words into … more words. (Action wouldn’t be the proper word here, I think).
Every now and then we keep hearing about AI (and, for God’s sake, don’t read AI as Air India. It is Artificial Intelligence), and all of us are aware of its importance and presence around us, from Cortana and Siri to the Google Assistant (and the DotA playing AI bot as well). But this article does not concern with whether they are important or not. Customarily, you would now ask me a question “Hey man, then what is it about?”. The answer (or, should I say question) to this is simple, ‘Are we ready for the change?’. Now, I don’t mean we are technologically ready or not, what I mean to say is shouldn’t we make some rules and laws to govern the research which is being carried out. Shouldn’t we be worried sick of our privacy, our jobs, and what-not? For instance, take self-driving cars as an example. The self-driving cars would have software made by companies like Google and Tesla Motors. Suppose, there is a bug in the software or the software crashes (just like my Windows). Now there are two possibilities, let us say, either the car hits a 65-year-old man or 3 teenagers. The question is ‘Who decides who dies?’ and ‘Who takes the responsibility of the crash, the car manufacturer, the self-driving software company or the driver?’. Answers to these questions will determine whether we live or die and until what age. This makes me feel really anxious and why shouldn’t it. It is a matter of someone’s life and death and controlling the death and life of a person would mean that we have reached significantly closer to the Gods (both the old and the new). So, let us take a look at my suggestions on solving these questions.
The AI research should be regulated by the Government
The Government of every country should make a panel of experts from various backgrounds who would decide the rules and regulations regarding the nature and scope of research in areas of Artificial Intelligence. By this, I mean that the Government should have knowledge of the extent of research going on in firms that deal with Artificial Intelligence or its sub-domains. This would allow the panel of experts to take precautionary steps and avoid any accident from happening. In case any firm decides to do unregulated research in these areas, they should be barred from doing any research in these areas for the next 5 years. Precautionary measures may include something like kill switches, which are beyond the capabilities of any AI program. If any AI program goes rogue, then the kill switch would allow us to terminate the AI program at any instant. And we should have multiple kill switches at different locations to be perfectly safe.
The AI programs should not be able to harm any humans. This might look like a scene straight out of a movie (because it really is) but, to support the ’Survival of the Fittest’, no AI program should be allowed to harm humans (Otherwise, we would have an existential crisis, quite literally). This would also prevent nations from launching AI based attacks on one another.
The gist of what I wanted to say is that every product we build has some advantages and disadvantages but the main idea behind creating a new product is to make the world a better place. AI is an area with huge potential benefits for humanity but we must be aware of the threats that it poses and how we can possibly deal with them.
Piyush Dubey 