What the emergence of AI phones and computers implies for our data

Apple, Microsoft and Google are ushering in a new era of AI-powered smartphones and computers. They say the devices will automate tasks like editing photos and wishing friends a happy birthday. But to do this, these companies need some of your things: more data.

In this new paradigm, your Windows computer will showcase the screenshots of all actions you do every few seconds. The iPhone will connect information about many of the apps you use. And the Android phone can listen to the call in real time to alert you to the scam. This change has a significant impact on our privacy. To deliver new, customized services, businesses and their devices will need more persistent and intimate access to our data than ever before. In the past, the way we used apps and pulled files and photos onto our phones and computers was relatively obscure. Security experts say artificial intelligence needs an overview that connects what we do in apps, websites and communications. "Do I feel safe giving this information to this company?" Cliff Steinhauer, director of the National Cyber ​​Security Alliance, a nonprofit focused on cybersecurity, said of companies' AI strategies.

This is all because OpenAI ChatGPT shook up the tech industry almost two years ago. Since then, Apple, Google, Microsoft and others have revised their product strategies, investing billions in new services under the umbrella term of artificial intelligence. They believe that this new kind of computer interface—one that constantly studies what you do to help—will become indispensable.

Experts say the biggest potential security risk from this change stems from subtle changes in how our new devices work. Because AI can be automated and complicated (such as rubbing from objects that do not need), sometimes it needs more computer power than it can be handled by our mobile phones. This means that several of our personal data may have to leave our mobile phones to behave elsewhere. The message is sent to the so-called cloud, a network of servers that processes the request. Once information is in the cloud, it can be seen by others, including company employees, bad actors, and government authorities. And while some of our data has always been stored in the cloud, our most deeply personal, intimate data that was once for our eyes only — photos, messages and emails — now may be connected and analyzed by a company on its servers.

The tech companies say they have gone to great lengths to secure people’s data.For now, it’s important to understand what will happen to our information when we use AI tools, so I got more information from the companies on their data practices and interviewed security experts. I plan to wait and see whether the technologies work well enough before deciding whether it’s worth it to share my data.