No Such Thing as a Dumb Question When it Comes to AI Safety and Data Privacy
The art of inquiry will become even more critical in the years ahead as we face the growth of AI innovation. And there is no better time to start flexing that curiosity muscle than Jan.
There are a lot of questions we should be asking these days about AI safety and data privacy, but as adults, our internal cringe meter tends to run high every time we open our mouths and take on a subject we don’t know enough about.
Of course not knowing the answer is often far worse than the risk of sounding dumb. Right?
These musings were well-timed to a book I started reading this week: Mel Robbins' book Let Them.
The crux of the book is that when you start to worry about someone else's thoughts/behavior/judgement/etc. the most powerful thing you can do is say to yourself: "Let Them." Let them judge. Let them be annoying. Let them. Let them. Let them. Then you focus on what you need to do (and btw, it’s a lot harder than it sounds).
In this case, any reticence you have to asking a question should be met instead with a thought to what impact there may be on your life for never having asked.
So with that, and in no particular order (or for any particular reason except you and I asked), a list:
What happens if/when TikTok is banned?
I've written previously about why TikTok should be banned (as the world's largest broker of facial recognition technology, in fact, it's quite chilling), but the question many parents are asking now is how a ban would work tactically. Usually it starts with the app being removed from the app store, so it won't be updated and will likely begin to get buggy and hard to use. The user experience will then deteriorate as servers are throttled, and users could start to see error messages when they open the app. But the most important thing to remember is that our kids' data is potentially being compromised by the app. Once it's banned, the danger worsens, as certainly there will be appetite by ByteDance and cybercriminals to hoover up as much data as possible. So have your kids delete their content and the app, then start a family discussion about why it's problematic and what to look out for in apps in the future.
My previous article about what is happening here »
What TikTok Did Next (and Why it Matters)
The global struggle for AI dominance has started. Telltale signs?
What is Powerschool and how was their data breached?
For those of you who follow news of data breaches in the education sector you might have caught wind of this news. But sadly, most of us haven't heard anything at all. And that is a frightening precedent for these type of happenings in the future. Powerschool is an online grading service. It allows teachers and parents to access important information. The breach has had spotty media coverage to-date but affects sensitive information such as social security numbers, medical information, and more. Clients of Powerschool service more than 60 million students worldwide. It took Powerschool a couple of weeks to tell partners (the breach was in December) and it's been even longer for those schools to tell students (still no word from New York City Schools). The biggest takeaway: stay on top of the news, work with your child on best practices for passwords, etc.
Tips on what to do when your social security number is part of a data breach »
Were Your Affected by Massive Social Security Number Breach?
Even with my personal radar on high alert for data breach news, my own response to articles about the massive social security number breach this week was a bit like molasses.
What is going on with Facebook?
Facebook has made the decision to stop fact-checking user content and employ a community notes based system. If you are familiar with community notes on X (formerly Twitter), it's been (arguably) a success. The program was launched in 2021 and I'm a fan. Why? Well, when posts are fact-checked under the hood and out of sight of users, there is a lot of grey area and a question of "whose truth" we are actually adhering to. Community notes force us to think. When a note is added, anyone reading the feedback can rate it for clarity, use of facts, compelling argument, etc. The aggregate effect encourages us to exercise our own judgement by reading the post, the notes, and then deciding what rings true. Yes, it will take a little time for the Facebook version to get going, but I'm a much bigger fan in participatory "truth seeking" than letting someone, somewhere do it for us
Any earlier article about *truth*»
Two Truths and a Lie: Navigating the Pre-Election "Disinformation" Maze
I don’t like the term “disinformation.” I think it’s used too loosely and makes us intellectually lazy.
Did you hear about the new Apple update?
Thanks to my friend who asked me this very question. While I am usually vigilant about checking for any auto opt-ins when my phone's operating system updates, somehow I hadn't seen this doozy Apple slid in. What is it? Well, Apple auto opts you in to allowing them to learn from your photos. Under settings » apps » photos you will see the feature. Now you can read about the lengths Apple is going to ensure that your privacy is still protected. But, personally, I'm not digging it and turned the feature off. You can too. And while you are at it, go through every app and consider turning Siri off for each. Maybe you want Siri to help you get an Uber, but there is a downside to her "passively listening" and I have chosen to mostly turn the feature off.
I wrote recently about this frustrating trend: companies automatically opting users into features, forcing us to opt out, rather than making a compelling case for us to opt in on our own accord. Read more here»
If in Doubt Opt Out
In a medical procedure theater, laying on an operating table (it was thankfully minor), my doctor and I were talking about one of the various common privacy complaints most people note about their smart phones and social media. But as my doctor shrugged his shoulders, as if it were out of his control, I yelled out “If in doubt, opt out!”
This is, of course, just a fraction of the questions and conversations I've had with friends and family this week. What questions have you been asking? I'd love to hear from you.