AI & Blockchain: A Match Made in Heaven
Blockchain has the great potential to transform current big data systems by providing efficient security features and network management capabilities enabling newly emerging big data services and applications. Blockchain is presently one of the most prevalent disruptive technologies which are paving the way for emerging financial and industrial services.
Some of the most important features of blockchain are immutability, decentralization, security, consensus, and accelerated financial settlement. And with data, one should be able to do three things (1) own your data; (2) monetize it; and (3) reap technological rewards (e.g AI technology)
With the help of blockchain and artificial intelligence, the data economy looks ready to flourish. Artificial intelligence is very often seen as this terminator intelligence, but what we should be eyeing are the endless possibilities that AI provides to maximize productivity and enhance human capabilities. Ownership of data is the heart of artificial intelligence. Currently, we have the most valuable technology companies in the world controlling most of the data and harvesting it in exchange for free services. We can confidently state that data sits at the very coreof their business model. It’s not underestimated to say that data has evolved to be the new gold of our modern times.
Is data even a real product?
Data isn’t merely a product. It’s the whole digital landscape. Think of Twitter and Facebook. The technology behind these social media platforms is simple–a few pages of source codes. But this is not why these companies are amassing billions of dollars.
When users interact with social platforms, a unique digital footprint is created based on their personal data. Unknowingly to most users, the data generated by themselves is being monetized. Earlier this year, for instance, we saw a feud between Walmart and TikTok. Walmart wanted to gain access to TikTok’s users’ data to save its losing e-commerce business.
As of now, there are very few tools for data ownership. Most users are also still unaware of the real value of their data and haven’t realized the full potential of their rights to that data. Regulators, especially in Europe, are strengthening privacy regulations to define data as a personal asset. Once users are provided with accessibility and ownership of their data, it will be the new golden standard.
So, why give data for free?
Short answer, “You shouldn’t”.
Understandably, the lack of awareness of data ownership is a challenge for users to discover the true value of the data that they are producing. While companies are continuously offering free services in exchange for the most valuable asset in the world, emerging blockchain protocols like Ocean Protocol, Fractal, and Streamr are paving the way to help users be more aware of data ownership. With new tools to manage, control, and monetize data, people can now choose a portion of the data they want to expose. This in turn will make AI and machine learning more effective to benefit the greater good, rather than helping only big corporations increase their profits.
Data is so valuable that the whole digital landscape wouldn’t exist without it. So why not value it accurately?
How AI leverages data
Globally, we have about 7.26 billion smartphone users (making up 9.51% of the world’s population) ,each of them is using a phone on a daily basis and is responsible for generating massive amounts of data. When users use a smartphone or an app , they often provide access to the metadata created by these devices, often including things like GPS coordinates, buying habits, search engine results, and many more.
With the data gathered, the element of probability gets better and better, which is a huge improvement compared to technologies in the past. With the help of AI, companies can now leverage historical data and make more accurate predictions based. Past user data is made available to the algorithm, which is then used to make better predictions and offer more personalized services.
Netflix, for example, uses a recommendation engine to show viewers with movies and suggestions based on their interests. The same goes for Amazon. The platform uses a recommendation engine to present suggested products to shoppers based on their buying history and previous searching behaviors.
So, what are the risks?
The immediate issues we see very frequently nowadays are data breaches. Recently, a report about a data leak from China emerged and shook the world. There were approximately 23 TB of user data stolen from the Shanghai police and was posted for sale on a forum for 10 Bitcoins. Some data samples were true as confirmed by reporters when they called the victims to see if the information was correct. While there was no confirmation whether all data extracted were accurate, it’s alarming that data can be easily hacked from a system with supposed strong security.
Big corporations and governments are holding terabytes of our data. This essentially makes them a honey pot with vast amounts of personal information. There are often no proper regulations that prevent them from using the data, nor is there any incentive for them to invest in the proper data infrastructure. Then, there’s the issue of data custodianship. When users post on any centralized social platform, their profiles are not theirs in reality. The social platform is the custodian of the data in this case. All while the platform is not being held responsible for users’ data when it ends in the wrong hands or gets hacked.
Remember the Cambridge Analytica case? This is a classic example of how data was used to make an effective election campaign for former US President Trump. Millions of data from Facebook profiles were harvested without users’ consent.
How does blockchain technology solve these issues?
Blockchain is not a single point of failure, it’s community-owned. Any single person can participate in the blockchain infrastructure. On top of that, there’s transparency surrounding every transaction in the history of blockchain, even from ten years ago. This provides appropriate evidence if something ever were to go wrong.
Additionally, blockchain makes it possible to create data ownership while moving away from data custodianship. Users are now able to decide for themselves which parts of their data they want to give access to and even monetize if they choose to.
Outside web3, data ownership has always been an issue. Companies use metadata to analyze users’ behavior and interests. Users have no control over what happens next once these companies are in possession of that data.
Newly emerging data economy/data marketplaces help improve society by giving everyone equal access to decentralized data platforms. There’s a paradigm shift in data ownership where users get the necessary tools that help them own and monetize their data. H2O is one of the pioneering projects that aims to serve as the default medium of exchange for the data economy as a whole. With H2O’s stability, data assets can be priced efficiently in the data economy without exposure to market volatility. In addition to that, our model and the fact that we are not pegged to the dollar provides us with the necessary protection to mitigate systemic risks and regulatory changes. We are paving the way for institutions and big data to utilize blockchain technology, without worrying about the underlying market conditions, which until now has been a major blocker.
We’re still at the very early stage of the data web3 economy. Protocols such as Ocean Protocol, Streamr, Filecoin, Brave Browser, and H2O are providing users with the right tools to create additional revenue streams for their own benefit and wellbeing. We look forward to a future where users will benefit from the full potential of their data, including monetizing it and having full control over what they own. And with H2O, users will be able to utilize a stable pricing model to do just that!
