Your Face & AI

When you take a photo of your face (or anyone else's face) with one of those trendy phone apps, what happens to that data?

Do we really have privacy?

Is our data secure?

Data collection is a big business. It's also a way of waging 'war'. Corporations, governments, etc. Even on an individual level - You have heard of the phrase "Knowledge is power" . The more data you collect on a person, the more power you may have over them.

There's also a race to develop AI (artificial intelligence) systems. Corporations want to collect as much info as possible to help improve their AI. This includes facial recognition.

On a darker note, it's not just simple facial recognition - Some unsavory sources might use these photographs or videos for what are called 'deepfakes'. Deepfakes can be used to impersonate someone, and you can imagine how that might be used.

The problem with these apps is that they have access to your phone's camera, microphone, and data storage. And of course - they have access to the network that transmits this data.

How can we tell which app is innocently using this access and which app is malicious?

We put our trust in corporations to monitor apps in their 'stores' and ensure that our data is protected. Most people install an app without concern that their data or biometrics would be harvested or stolen.

As technology gets more and more advanced, it might be a good idea to give these threats some thought. How can we keep our data more private? How can we improve security?

Of course, we all want to have fun with these devices we own. And there's nothing wrong with using apps and enjoying them. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about what might be done with our personal data. For the sake of our future (and of future generations), I hope more people start questioning the use of AI.