AI in the now… Big tech companies… Google…
Google has made an immense push in the field of AI and is in a key position to do so due too their vast amounts of data that they collect from all google users and from users of web services that aren’t even aware that their web usage data is collected by google also.
On a side note...
Just check some of your end user agreements and privacy policies of your favorite apps and web services or use an tracking filter in your browser to see how much of your day to day web usage ends up as data points in google’s data storage.
If you haven't done so until now... well, it's time imo and your in for some surprises!
If you want to see what their official position on AI is check this.
From this website some key points...
So this in the official google stance on their AI efforts.
It’s not so easy to find a more background based view into google’s efforts and visions regarding AI.
...but you could start to look at the efforts of google to be heard and to influence politics and economics maybe by using the transparency register off the EU comission:
https://ec.europa.eu/search/?QueryText=google&op=Search&swlang=en&form_build_id=form-m-VGNSwrUwP8TMV_ENxq5OzPeQ9ITNXv9IdRL8YzvOo&form_id=nexteuropa_europa_search_search_form
You’ll find that google has spent over 6,000,000 USD for lobby activities in 2017. You can also see that they’ve attended around 200 meetings with EU officials in the last three years.
Google is the most active lobbyist in Brussels!
How important is AI for google?
Well, it is so important to google that they’ve given themselves the label of an AI company.
Google says that AI drives a good portion of their product development and drives a good portion of quality approaches to better existing products.
They also say that this can be seen for example with the dramatic progress that has been made with google translate by use of AI driven algorithms in the last two years.
More progress by the way than in the 10 years before that which also gives an indication to the rising momentum of AI tech in general in their own estimation and everyone who tried google translate will probably agree.
They also state "How AI is built and how it is used will certainly have massive influence on society."
An google official also said…
"Most important is to do this responsibly with principles of transparency, explaining how AI works, what it is used for, where my data is going to, how you can control this data and how you can make sure your data is deleted or transferred if you wish so. The user must be in control."
Hmh... Sure, keep in mind we're talking about google here a company that permanently uses it's market domination to obliterate the competition and didn't really come across as free speech, freedom or privacy advocate.
What’s going on with google home for example, the intelligent microphone and speaker in your home?
An official from google said the following on this.
“Google home isn’t constantly listening in on you. It monitors for the so called ‘hot word’ (‘google’ or ‘hey google’) before the microphone is turned on to listen to your voice, your web search, your command, these voice commands are then transferred to the google internet server to then come back with the result of a search or a confirmation to your voice command.”
Interestingly enough, google has numerous patents in this area. One of these patents goes to show how far beyond the officially stated vision and mission of google in this field they possibly want to take this.
With this they would for instance be able to detect all of the persons present in your home, if somebody coughs or sneezes for health monitoring, how long you brush your teeth, the time you spent on your toilet bowl, if there are arguments and so on. So it’s not only words and commands that could be monitored but also moods and other data points.
If you’re interested check this patent out here: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2016/0261932.html
Google states on this. Most of our many patents are imaginary fictive ideas that, just like many other companies handle this, wont ever be realized as actual service.
Sure…
However even if you choose to accept the downplaying of these “imaginary/fictive solutions”, that are placed in official google patents, their lobby work in Brussels is reality!
When a google representative was asked how often google intervenes in the EU his answer was:
”The right question is the point that stand between the lines, namely how ethical does an company handle product development. With given principles we have set our own rules that impact our own handling, research and product development and that also influence our business decisions.”
The political pressure on google is growing in the USA.
The open market institute (a think tank), that criticizes the political influence of large corporations, has the following to say:
“We need to know in our society that people are talking in their own name, those who talk to the press, our political representatives, the congress have to make clear that they speak in their own name and not under assignment of someone else. They cannot be puppets on a string or henchmen of someone else, that their not stooges and puppets of someone else. But the fact of the matter is, and this applies to the USA as well as too the EU, that our society is full of puppets who represent the interests of google, facebook and amazon.”
Another clear pattern that shows is the monopolization of trade and search engines…
“If you have a monopoly in trading or in search engines the citizens have not the slightest chance to understand how their information/data is used. Monopolies are a danger that have to be regulated. Google means to take over the world!
They want to control our thoughts, our human interaction, our dealings from persons to corporations. They want to control everything that they can. They want to know the temperature in our houses (Nest), they want to know what we are watching on TV, they are on a level of arrogance that even Stalinists never would have imagined to be possible or to be pushing for.”
Google, Facebook, Amazon…
Is our life increasingly determined by these large corporations?
One of the questions that comes to mind is our legal system even equipped to handle these new circumstances of large, worldwide corporations?
For example regarding the takeover of WhatsApp and Instagram by Facebook this should have been stopped by cartel regulations but it wasn’t. It was absolutely clear what this would lead to and even more massive and higher data concentration in one corporation.
But at the moment data is no criteria in most jurisdictions or more specifically in cartel regulations. Right now these regulations and laws barely cover number of users, or sales/revenue and things as such.
So, you’ve got more or less one dominant search engine, they know all the data from your smart home appliances, they could/can/are listening into what is spoken in your home and the list goes on and on. Wouldn’t it be right to say stop, this is too much in the hands of one corporation not even looking at the constantly raped privacy of users?
Well, lawmakers in a few countries are thinking so at least. Some say these monopolies have to be smashed a999nd it has to be regulated what they are allowed to do and what not.
Which data are they allowed to have and what are they allowed to do with this data.
Were large data concentration is piled up there should be regulations in place that force them to share this data with competitors, public institutions, administrations while also protecting the privacy of the individual from where they got the data in the first place. Some even speak of data that has almost become a natural resource.
Again, not emphasizing freedom and privacy sooo much but at least a few bases are seen as "need cover".
One thing is clear. AI amplifies the power of google and other large corporations and the call for politics and law makers to act urgently on this becomes more heard around the world.
Let me know what you think about this in the comments or in an tweet reply!
Gif from my friend https://twitter.com/smilinglllama!