Data privacy is a huge thing for businesses and ensuring that such privacy is held at the highest level is one of the evergreen tasks for businesses globally. Data protection is also an issue that has been regulated through governmental acts in many countries of the world.
For instance, the European Union had approved the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced in 2018, which at its core requested businesses to ask for an explicit consent for retaining their data. Similarly, US states have enacted their own laws regarding data privacy and one of the most famous ones is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) from the state of California. Introduced in 2020, like GDPR, CCPA allows its residents to be aware of which data is being collected and reserves the right to ask for the deletion of any data they want.
We have seen that AI has been integrated into many businesses worldwide. This integration, although way more beneficial, comes along with a few disadvantages. The topic that has sparked a conversation is that since AI uses a vast amount of data to function, what are the chances for this data to be misused or mishandled? This article will discuss the privacy implications of AI and suggest the use of blockchain as a solution to enhance ethical data use.
The Privacy Challenge in AI
AI lives on data. That being said, AI is unable to create any type of product through its algorithms without being fed data first. However, as we have already seen, once AI has the necessary data, it can excel in its job. But, what’s the trick to that when it comes to business but also other fields? Data privacy.
Since AI handles so much data on a daily basis, the fear of data misuse, which can be either accidental or intentional, has stirred the discussion on how to protect data to a larger extent from such incidents. To intensify those concerns even further, research has shown that while cybercrime stands at a staggering 55% when it comes to data privacy, AI follows with just 2% difference, at 53%.
The Role of Blockchain in Ethical Data Use
One of the solutions that could protect the data of businesses when it comes to AI is blockchain. Blockchain is a system that was first developed and introduced in 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto published the whitepaper on bitcoin. However, ever since that happened 15 years ago, blockchain has found itself being used in many other industries including finance, healthcare, real estate, logistics, and so on.
The strongest skill that blockchain has is its decentralized control of data. The data that is fed to the AI can be secured through blockchain as blockchain will not allow for this data to be altered retroactively. As a result, there is a transparent record for all the data that a business might have handled and there are tracks of how it has been created, accessed or shared. Here’s in a few bullet points why blockchain is one of the most efficient data protectors for businesses:
- Once a data transaction is recorded, it will remain so and cannot be changed.
- Blockchain is decentralized; it does not have one authority but rather a network of systems.
- Blockchain offers smart contracts which directly show how AI uses the customer’s data.
Enhancing Data Privacy
Apart from blockchain, businesses can also make use of the open source business intelligence (BI) tools to further enhance their data security. Open-source BI is one of the tools that has been specifically designed to help businesses to leverage their data and analytics. Some of the open-source BI tools such as Apache Superset or Metabase offer a high value when it comes to transparency for the business data. Here’s how open-source BI helps businesses benefit from open-source BI when it comes to data privacy:
- Open-source BI tools allow businesses to track how AI has entered and used data on different datasets.
- The analysis of this data allows businesses to check and notice any noncompliance that might be occurring in the AI systems.
- Open-source BI combined with blockchain offers a full transparent trail of the data usage on AI systems.
Will There Ever Be an Ethical AI?
While we are aware of the current challenges, the question that naturally raises is whether AI will ever become ethical when it comes to data use in businesses. It can be concluded that once AI is used with other components such as blockchain, open-source BI tools or any other platform or system that offers such services, it can help businesses be ethical when it comes to their customer’s data usage. As a result, both businesses are aware of the data usage but also customers are aware and there is trust built in this relationship, otherwise known as customer trust which is definitely something businesses aim for.
