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While the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology in general has been widely beneficial for humans, there are a number of safety and privacy concerns that have arisen as technology has become more and more advanced. In chapter two of Finn’s What Algorithms Want, this issue of privacy and safety for individuals using new technology is called into question. As an example, Siri’s main form or learning is through the aggregation and subsequent analysis of patterns of voice query records, and the storage of these queries is “unsurprisingly troubling to privacy advocates” (Finn 62).
Because privacy and safety are hot topics in technology today, I wanted to look more into privacy issues specifically as they relate to digital assistants. Currently, Apple stores Siri requests along with a device ID for 6 months, and then drops the device ID and stores just the request for an additional 18 months (Waddell). While it isn’t entirely surprising that Siri searches are being stored somewhere, as digital assistants “wouldn’t be able to provide … useful results” (Waddell) without communicating with their respective companies and storing past searches to analyze patterns, their storage does sacrifice a fair amount of user privacy.
Google has recently been attempting to develop a digital assistant that listens to all conversations, even ones not directed at the search assistant. This jump is quite large, as the assistants, and therefore the company, will not only store queries directed at the assistant, but all conversations the user has on a given device. Siri, and other tools like it, seem to be just the beginning of personal digital assistants and the power they might have. Privacy, however, needs to be a large factor in deciding how best to leverage this technology in order for it to grow responsibly.
Bariya, Niraj. “Shhhh… Listen! Do You Hear The Sound Of New Messaging App Google Allo?” DigiFloor, DigiFloor, 22 Sept. 2016, www.digifloor.com/google-allo-messaging-app-22.
Finn, Ed. “Building the Star Trek Computer.” What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing, MIT Press, 2017, pp. 57–77.
Waddell, Kaveh. “The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 May 2016, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/the-privacy-problem-with-digital-assistants/483950/.
Posted from Digital Studies 101 Blog by Patrick G.