If I Wouldn’t Say It To My Mother Should I Say It To AI?

I found a great article about AI and privacy on SubStack today, written by Vitalii Kovalenko and although the article is twelve months old, it is just as relevant today as it was then. It will probably be relevant in five or ten years as well.

Privacy is a big concern these days, but we seem to release information to some, but not others. In fact, Vitalii asks, “Why do we lock down our social media but unlock everything for AI?” Good question, and I’d like to add to that and ask a few other questions as well.

How much does Google know about us from the information it collects from our search engine usage? What information is shared, and with whom, when we use Google, or other platforms such as Apple, Facebook, or Microsoft to sign into third party sites using Single Sign On (SSO)?

What does Google Maps do with the information that it collects?

I guess that even our bank or credit card provider knows where we spend our money, and what on. Where is all this information stored? In the cloud? The cloud, when it comes down to it, is really just someone else’s computer somewhere, and we have no idea who has access to it.

Before typing something into an AI chatbot, it’s worth asking a simple question: Would I be comfortable saying this to another person? I was always taught to think before I speak, and using AI hasn’t changed that lesson. If anything, I’d say that it has made it even more important.

Things are moving so fast today that I fear that we are losing the ability to think things through, and we give up so much of our privacy without thinking. And not just our privacy either, but that of our kids as well, especially on social media. I’m very wary of how I interact with my adult children on social media, and am very wary about posting images of my grandkids.

Artificial Intelligence is a great tool, but it would be a terrible master. As a tool, we should use it wisely, and be aware of just how we use it, and what we are giving over. A chainsaw is a great tool that has its uses as well, but it would be foolish to use it while wearing a blindfold.

In a related post, I ask the question: Are we giving away our privacy? on The Life.