In 2016, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, its president, Klaus Martin Schwab, spoke about the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”: a new era of total automation that creates competition between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. This speech (as well as the book of the same name) is considered a turning point in the development of new technologies. Many countries have had to choose which path they will take: the priority of technology over individual rights and freedoms, or vice versa? So the technological turning point turned into a social and political one.
What else did Schwab talk about, and why is it so important?
The revolution will change the balance of power between people and machines: artificial intelligence (AI) and robots will create new professions, but also kill the old ones. All this will give rise to social inequality and other upheavals in society.
Digital technologies will give a huge advantage to those who will bet on them in time: inventors, shareholders and venture investors. The same applies to states.
In the race for global leadership today, whoever has the most influence in the field of artificial intelligence wins. The global profit from the application of AI technology in the next five years is estimated at $ 16 trillion, and bThe largest share will go to the US and China.
In his book “The Superpowers of Artificial Intelligence”, Chinese IT expert Kai-Fu Lee writes about the struggle between China and the United States in the field of technology, the Silicon Valley phenomenon, and the colossal difference between the two countries.
USA and China: arms race
USA is considered one of the most developed countries in the field of artificial intelligence. Global giants based in Silicon Valley – such as Google, Apple, Facebook or Microsoft – pay great attention to these developments. Dozens of startups are joining them.
In 2019, Donald Trump commissioned the creation of the American AI Initiative. It works in five areas:
The Department of Defense AI Strategy talks about the use of these technologies for military needs and cybersecurity. At the same time, back in 2019, the United States recognized the superiority of China in some indicators related to AI research.
In 2019, the US government allocated about $1 billion for research in the field of artificial intelligence. However, by 2020, only 4% of US CEOs plan to implement AI technology, compared to 20% in 2019. They believe that the possible risks of technology are much higher than its capabilities.
China aims to overtake the US in artificial intelligence and other technologies. The starting point can be considered 2017, when the National Strategy for the Development of AI Technologies appeared. According to it, by 2020, China should have caught up with the world leaders in this field, and the total AI market in the country should have exceeded $22 billion. They plan to invest $700 billion in smart manufacturing, medicine, cities, agriculture and defense.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, sees AI as “the driving force behind the technological revolution” and economic growth. The ex-president of Chinese Google Li Kaifu attributes this to the fact that AlphaGo (the development of Google’s head office) defeated the Chinese go game champion Ke Jie. This has become a technological challenge for China.
The main thing in which the country has been inferior to the United States and other leaders so far is fundamental theoretical research, the development of basic algorithms and chips based on AI. To overcome this, China is actively borrowing the best technologies and specialists from the world market, while not allowing foreign companies to compete with Chinese domestically.
At the same time, among all companies in the field of AI, the best are selected in several stages and promoted to the industry leaders. A similar approach has already been used in the telecommunications industry. In 2019, the first pilot zone for innovation and the application of artificial intelligence began to be built in Shanghai.
In 2020, the government is pledging another $1,4 trillion for 5G, AI and self-driving cars. They are betting on the largest providers of cloud computing and data analysis – Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.
Baidu, the “Chinese Google” with up to 99% facial recognition accuracy, startups iFlytek and Face have been the most successful. The market for Chinese microcircuits in one year alone – from 2018 to 2019 – grew by 50%: to $ 1,73 billion.
In the face of a trade war and worsening diplomatic relations with the United States, China has stepped up the integration of civil and military projects in the field of AI. The main goal is not only technological, but also geopolitical superiority over the United States.
Although China has managed to overtake the United States in terms of unlimited access to big and personal data, it still lags behind in the field of technological solutions, research and equipment. At the same time, the Chinese publish more cited articles on AI.
But in order to develop AI projects, we need not only resources and state support. Unlimited access to big data is needed: it is they that provide the basis for research and development, as well as the training of robots, algorithms and neural networks.
Big data and civil liberties: what is the price of progress?
Big data in the US is also taken seriously and believes in its potential for economic development. Even under Obama, the government launched six federal big data programs totaling $200 million.
However, with the protection of large and personal data, everything is not so simple here. The turning point was the events of September 11, 2011. It is believed that it was then that the state provided the special services with unlimited access to the personal data of its citizens.
In 2007, the Law on Combating Terrorism was adopted. And from the same year, PRISM appeared at the disposal of the FBI and the CIA – one of the most advanced services that collects personal data about all users of social networks, as well as Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo services, and even telephone records. It was about this base that Edward Snowden, who had previously worked in the project team, spoke.
In addition to conversations and messages in chats, emails, the program collects and stores geolocation data, browser history. Such data in the US is much less protected than personal data. All this data is collected and used by the same IT giants from Silicon Valley.
At the same time, there is still no single package of laws and measures regulating the use of big data. Everything is based on the privacy policy of each particular company and formal obligations to protect data and anonymize users. In addition, each state has its own rules and laws in this regard.
Some states are still trying to protect the data of their citizens, at least from corporations. California has the toughest data protection law in the country since 2020. According to it, Internet users have the right to know what information companies collect about them, how and why they use it. Any user may request that it be removed or that collection be prohibited. A year earlier, it also banned the use of facial recognition in the work of the police and special services.
Data anonymization is a popular tool used by American companies: when data is anonymized, and it is impossible to identify a specific person from it. However, this opens up great opportunities for companies to collect, analyze and apply data for commercial purposes. At the same time, confidentiality requirements no longer apply to them. Such data is freely sold through special exchanges and individual brokers.
By pushing laws to protect against the collection and sale of data at the federal level, America may face technical problems that, in fact, affect all of us. So, you can turn off location tracking on your phone and in apps, but what about the satellites that broadcast this data? Now there are about 800 of them in orbit, and it is impossible to turn them off: this way we will be left without the Internet, communications and important data – including images of impending storms and hurricanes.
In China, the Cyber Security Law has been in force since 2017. It, on the one hand, prohibits Internet companies from collecting and selling information about users of their consent. In 2018, they even released a specification on the protection of personal data, which is considered one of the closest to the European GDPR. However, the specification is just a set of rules, not a law, and does not allow citizens to defend their rights in court.
On the other hand, the law requires mobile operators, Internet service providers and strategic enterprises to store part of the data within the country and transfer it to the authorities upon request. Something similar in our country prescribes the so-called “Spring Law”. At the same time, supervisory authorities have access to any personal information: calls, letters, chats, browser history, geolocation.
In total, there are more than 200 laws and regulations in China regarding the protection of personal information. Since 2019, all popular smartphone apps have been checked and blocked if they collect user data in violation of the law. Those services that form a feed of posts or show ads based on user preferences also fell under the scope. To limit access to information on the network as much as possible, the country has a “Golden Shield” that filters Internet traffic in accordance with the laws.
Since 2019, China has begun to abandon foreign computers and software. Since 2020, Chinese companies have been required to move to cloud computing, as well as provide detailed reports on the impact of IT equipment on national security. All this against the backdrop of a trade war with the United States, which has questioned the safety of 5G equipment from Chinese suppliers.
Such a policy causes rejection in the world community. The FBI said that data transmission through Chinese servers is not secure: it can be accessed by local intelligence agencies. After him expressed concern and international corporations, including Apple.
The world human rights organization Human Rights Watch points out that China has built “a network of total state electronic surveillance and a sophisticated system of Internet censorship.” 25 UN member states agree with them.
The most striking example is Xinjiang, where the state monitors 13 million Uighurs, a Muslim national minority. Face recognition, tracking of all movements, conversations, correspondence and repressions are used. The “social credit” system is also criticized: when access to various services and even flights abroad is available only to those who have a sufficient trustworthiness rating – from the point of view of civil services.
There are other examples: when states agree on uniform rules that should protect personal freedoms and competition as much as possible. But here, as they say, there are nuances.
How the European GDPR has changed the way the world collects and stores data
Since 2018, the European Union has adopted the GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulation. It regulates everything related to the collection, storage and use of online user data. When the law went into effect a year ago, it was considered the world’s toughest system to protect people’s online privacy.
The law lists six legal bases for collecting and processing data from Internet users: for example, personal consent, legal obligations, and vital interests. There are also eight basic rights for each user of Internet services, including the right to be informed about the collection of data, correct or delete data about yourself.
Companies are required to collect and store the minimum amount of data they need to provide services. For example, an online store doesn’t have to ask you about your political opinions in order to deliver a product.
All personal data must be securely protected in accordance with the standards of law for each type of activity. Moreover, personal data here means, among other things, location information, ethnicity, religious beliefs, browser cookies.
Another difficult requirement is the portability of data from one service to another: for example, Facebook can transfer your photos to Google Photos. Not all companies can afford this option.
Although the GDPR was adopted in Europe, it applies to all companies that operate within the EU. The GDPR applies to anyone who processes personal data of EU citizens or residents or offers goods or services to them.
Created to protect, for the IT industry, the law turned into the most unpleasant consequences. In the first year alone, the European Commission fined more than 90 companies totaling more than €56 million. Moreover, the maximum fine can reach up to €20 million.
Many corporations have faced restrictions that have created serious obstacles for their development in Europe. Among them was Facebook, as well as British Airways and the Marriott hotel chain. But first of all, the law hit small and medium-sized businesses: they have to adjust all their products and internal processes to its norms.
The GDPR has spawned an entire industry: law firms and consulting firms that help bring software and online services into line with the law. Its analogues began to appear in other regions: South Korea, Japan, Africa, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The document had a great influence on the legislation of the United States, our country and China in this area.
One might get the impression that the international practice of applying and protecting technologies in the field of big data and AI consists of some extremes: total surveillance or pressure on IT companies, inviolability of personal information or complete defenselessness before the state and corporations. Not exactly: there are good examples too.
AI and big data at the service of Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization – Interpol for short – is one of the most influential in the world. It includes 192 countries. One of the main tasks of the organization is to compile databases that help law enforcement agencies around the world to prevent and investigate crime.
Interpol has 18 international bases at its disposal: about terrorists, dangerous criminals, weapons, stolen works of art and documents. This data is collected from millions of different sources. For example, the global digital library Dial-Doc allows you to identify stolen documents, and the Edison system – counterfeit.
An advanced facial recognition system is used to track the movements of criminals and suspects. It is integrated with databases that store photos and other personal data from over 160 countries. It is complemented by a special biometric application that compares the shapes and proportions of the face so that the match is as accurate as possible.
The recognition system also detects other factors that change the face and make it difficult to identify it: lighting, aging, make-up and make-up, plastic surgery, the effects of alcoholism and drug addiction. To avoid errors, system search results are checked manually.
The system was introduced in 2016, and now Interpol is actively working to improve it. The International Identification Symposium is held every two years, and the Face Expert working group exchanges experience between countries twice a year. Another promising development is a voice recognition system.
The United Nations International Research Institute (UNICRI) and the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are responsible for the latest technologies in the field of international security. Singapore has created the largest international innovation center of Interpol. Among his developments are a police robot that helps people on the streets, as well as AI and big data technologies that help predict and prevent crime.
How else is big data used in government services:
NADRA (Pakistan) – a database of multi-biometric data of citizens, which is used for effective social support, tax and border control.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) in the US is using big data to more accurately process disability claims and cut down on fraudsters.
The US Department of Education uses text recognition systems to process regulatory documents and track changes in them.
FluView is an American system for tracking and controlling influenza epidemics.
In fact, big data and artificial intelligence help us in many areas. They are built on online services like those that notify you of traffic jams or crowds. With the help of big data and AI in medicine, they conduct research, create drugs and treatment protocols. They help to organize the urban environment and transport so that everyone is comfortable. On a national scale, they help to develop the economy, social projects and technical innovations.
That is why the question of how big data is collected and applied, as well as the AI algorithms that work with it, is so important. At the same time, the most important international documents that regulate this area were adopted quite recently – in 2018-19. There is still no unambiguous solution to the main dilemma associated with the use of big data for security. When, on the one hand, the transparency of all court decisions and investigative actions, and on the other hand, the protection of personal data and any information that could harm a person if published. Therefore, each state (or union of states) decides for itself this issue in its own way. And this choice, often, determines the entire politics and economics for the coming decades.
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