zlacker

I think we need to face the fact that these companies aren’t trustworthy in upholding their own stated morals. We need to consider whether streaming video from our phone to a complex AI system that can interpret everything it sees might have longer term privacy implications. When you think about it, a cloud AI system is an incredible surveillance machine. You want to talk to it about important questions in your life, and it would also be capable of dragnet surveillance based on complex concepts like “show me all the people organizing protests” etc.

Consider for example that when Amazon bought the Ring security camera system, it had a “god mode” that allowed executives and a team in Ukraine unlimited access to all camera data. It wasn’t just a consumer product for home users, it was a mass surveillance product for the business owners:

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/10/amazon-ring-security-cam...

The EFF has more information on other privacy issues with that system:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/amazons-ring-perfect-s...

These big companies and their executives want power. Withholding huge financial gain from ex employees to maintain their silence is one way of retaining that power.