The Future of Data Ownership
Web3 had always been about ownership. Ownership of your finances, through crypto stored in custodial wallets. Ownership of your assets (digital collectibles, NFTs, etc.)
It is also about ownership of your data. As the world hurtles towards massive paradigm shifts driven by rapid development and deployment of AI, control of data will be an even bigger emphasis in the future — and web3 is going to be a critical element for individuals and their ability to establish their digital identity and control their digital lives.
First, let’s start off with the problem. OpenAI reached 100MM users faster than any other platform in history. The impact of AI on all levels of society is going to be significant. And it has happened so rapidly, that it’s difficult to consider the ramifications. But think about this: AI needs data in order for it to operate accurately. Think Google/Meta/Amazon levels of data. LLMs (Large Language Models) take in data (also known as the ‘corpus’, or body of data) in order to model their responses.
So what does that mean? Let’s start with Google. ChatGPT is a massive threat to Google, the clear leader in search for the last 20 years. Well, if ChatGPT needs data in order to be accurate, Google has some pretty significant incentive to shut down access to their data and information. Take that challenge, and repeat across the board with every major org... Data is the fuel that powers the AI engine, and fuel costs are about to skyrocket — or become completely unavailable, as the major data farmers look to completely shut down access to any potential competitors.
So... what happens when the major social media and search and other platforms start to limit access? AI orgs start to look for other sources of data. And one of those sources is going to consumers. Given privacy law and data policy, consumers cannot have restricted access to their own data. Take that to the next step — if Google won’t directly sell data to competitors, what is to stop them from going direct to consumers? Right now, lack of infrastructure... but once infrastructure (ahem, web3) is in place (and consumers are educated about ownership and rights, which is no small task!), we are talking about a shift of power from the major centralized entities to a decentralized, democratic data lake that is controlled by individual consumers. Millions of them.
This won’t happen overnight. And it won’t be clean or easy. But as web3 and blockchain start to form the foundation of our digital lives, data ownership will be of massive importance.
About the author: Mike Schaiman, Co-founder of Gen City Labs and former CEO of Helios Interactive Technologies, brings a deep knowledge of digital brand activations and immersive experiences leveraging virtual and augmented reality. He has a history of introducing new technologies to Fortune 500 brands such as Mercedes Benz, Visa, Coca Cola, Capital One, the NFL, Salesforce, Emirates Airlines, and many more — creating unique, innovative experiences for consumers. He now channels his curiosity and energy into web3, where the intersection of community and ownership creates unprecedented new opportunities for brands.
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn & Twitter
About Gen City Labs: We are a team building a community engagement platform with an analytics backend and a suite of tools designed to energize the relationship between brands and consumers, all powered by web3. Additionally, the agency at Gen City Labs engineers custom experiential technology for Fortune 500 brands. Across both B2B and B2C events, live and digital, the Gen City Labs team can leverage cutting edge digital channels to tell your brand story.
If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch at info@gencitylabs.io.
Tags: #web3 #ai #blockchain #google #datafarming #datastrategy #techtrends #futureoftech
