Challenges associated with AR going into the mainstream.
What does the future of AR hold?
“I do think that a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you,”
- Tim Cook
AR is rapidly moving toward mass adoption. 2016 and 2017 have been especially fruitful years for the AR community. We’ve seen the massive success of Pokemon Go, which hit the record as the third most downloaded app on App Store, the launch of Snapchat’ World Lenses and Facebook’s AR camera effects, the release of Apple’s AR Kit and Google’s AR Core software development kits.
While many still hold a view that the primary use of AR is gaming, we can see that AR is already transforming a wide range of industries from healthcare to the military, with such apps, as AccuVein and the U.S. Army’s Tactical AR. In the mobile AR market too, the share of non-gaming apps is on the rise. More examples of AR creations are here.
The total AR/VR market is projected to grow to $108 billion by 2021 with AR taking almost 80% of this market worth according to a report by Digi Capital.
So, what exactly is AR?
“There are clearly some cool niche things for VR, but it’s not profound in my view. AR is profound.”
- Tim Cook
Augmented reality is a method of overlaying computer-generated content, such as images, videos, text, etc., onto the real world. An excellent example of an AR application is the world famous app Pokemon Go. AR is not to be confused with VR, which provides for a fully immersive experience by cutting a user from the real world and placing them in a virtual (artificial) space. VR usually requires specialized equipment that covers eyes and ears.
In fact, according to a report by Citi Group, AR has a more significant commercial potential than its counterpart. AR’s main advantage over VR is the ease with which it can be integrated into a person’s life. AR does not distract a person from their daily duties and allows for better mobility. Moreover, AR is gradually evolving into MR that stands for mixed reality — a perfect blend of the real and the virtual worlds so that they can co-exist and even interact with each other. Ex.: Microsoft’s HoloLens, Magic Leap.
Roadblocks on the way to mass adoption.
The AR ecosystem, including software kits, applications, and wearables, is rapidly advancing and expanding worldwide. AR is revolutionizing the way we interact with each other and the world and how we process information. However, as is the case with any new technology, AR creates both opportunities and challenges. A significant concern for AR’s massive adoption is related to data management.
In the digital space, all data are managed and stored by centralized organizations. In the same way, AR applications accumulate a lot of information about their users, including content created by users. This model inherently creates a hierarchical system that puts users/clients under the dependence of companies that provide various AR experiences.
Server capacity.
Mobile phones do not yet have sufficient battery and computing resources to keep large amounts of data produced in AR applications. What usually happens is that a thin-client is downloaded on a mobile device, and then, when the app needs to load data, it would send a request to an off-site server. Therefore, AR apps need support from remote servers.
In this system, a company’s servers need to be functioning well at all times. In our daily activities, we are incredibly dependent on service providers. Everyone had experienced instances when Google Docs crashed in the middle of an important assignment and failed to save changes to a document. Access to data on servers can cease under a lot of factors, such as excessive traffic to a website, hacking attacks, system failures, hardware malfunctions, etc.
Hacking attacks.
Centralized handling of data poses a significant threat to data privacy and security. When everything is kept in one place (server), anyone can hack into the system and get access to information. So when we entrust our personal information, such as contact details, financials, medical records to third-party services, we risk it being stolen and used for malicious purposes.
In a recent attack on a plastic surgery center, hackers targeted patients’ “names, Social Security numbers, driver licenses or state identification numbers, credit or debit card information, medical conditions, diagnoses, lab results, addresses, dates of birth and health insurance data.” In this scenario, we entirely depend on the security of others and have no personal control over our records.
With AR moving into e-commerce, healthcare, and other industries –how can we ensure our data is well protected?
Centralized decision making.
Centralized service providers play a role of a central authority reserving the right to dictate the rules within a network. A lot of companies do not operate transparently and prefer not to disclose information about their operations. Moreover, centralized organizations do not act out of the best interests of consumers and can modify the terms of use and policies in their favor.
For instance, Google has been under some antitrust investigations related to infringement of fair competition online. The tech giant has been accused of prioritizing its services over rivals. Examples include Google comparison shopping platform and Gmail. In the latter case, Gmail’s competitor ProtonMail disappeared from search results for no apparent reason. Google did not provide a full basis as to why this happened, which led many to think that this was an intentional move.
Censorship.
Companies monitor all the content that is created, published and shared by users, and determine what is acceptable and what is not. An example that speaks to it is an AR drawing app called Sketchar, which warns its users that any content created in Sketchar can be deleted any time without prior notice.
The problem with censorship is that in most cases companies’ guidelines with regards to moderating content are opaque. For example, Reddit was accused of censoring Trump’s “Ask Me Anything” session by banning 2,200 users from the online discussion without clearly defining their guidelines.
Monopolization of power has significant implications for freedom of expression and raises a question about the extent to which censorship can cause disincentive consumers from exploring AR technologies.
The use of our data. Monetization.
In addition to controlling the way our data is processed and used, companies actively monetize it and earn millions from it. Centralized platforms commercialize our information by selling it to third parties for various purposes, such as ads, research, analytics, etc.
For example, Facebook is the second largest revenue generating ad platform after Google. It gathers information from its 2 billion user base to create targeted ads. 23andme — the company behind affordable DNA tests, attributes its profit not the sales of testing kits, but to the sales of its 2 million customer DNA database to research institutions.
The world of AR is not different in a sense that application providers also accumulate a lot of data from users, which they might use for monetary benefits. One of such apps — Pokemon Go states that it shares data with other entities “for research and analysis, demographic profiling, and other similar purposes.” According to the Terms of Use of another AR app Sketchar, anything that is ever created using this app is automatically licensed to be used, reproduced, incorporated into other works, publicly displayed on their website/app.
The bottom line here is that users have a very limited saying over how their data is used and who gets to extract value from it. The high degree of penetration of new technologies, including AR, into our lives, can lead to a higher concentration of power in the hands of companies and not the people.
Even if users decide to monetize their information or content, it is not that easy to do because there are intermediaries charging fees and creating barriers to entry. For instance, YouTubers who actively contribute exciting content to the platform, cannot start earning profit from their creations, until their videos have at least 10,000 views.
What’s next?
As augmented reality continues to develop as a mainstream technology and gains larger audiences, the industry would also need to address the questions of data ownership and protection. Users should be brought on board into the discussions around platform rules and policies to make the new world of mixed reality secure, transparent, and fair.
In the next post, we will look into blockchain technology and how it can address the issues discussed above. More specifically, we will discuss how decentralized technologies can play a vital role in reshaping the standards of centralized data management and helping people become owners and beneficiaries of their data.
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