Amidst a growing set of global crises, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave his inaugural speech to the United Nations earlier this week on a topic few were expecting: the challenges of privacy and security in modern technology. Johnson warned of “digital authoritarianism” as well as a host of other challenges.
Here’s the whole speech. It’s really something.
“You may keep secrets from your friends, from your parents, your children, your doctor, even your personal trainer, but it takes real effort to conceal your thoughts from Google,” the prime minister said. “And if that is true today, in [the] future there may be nowhere to hide.”
Speaking to an audience that at times looked both amused and confused, Johnson described a situation of great opportunity and also of great peril. On one hand, there could be bollards that could connect with lampposts to provide parking spaces for electric cars. On the other, a future version of Alexa could violate privacy and force decisions upon users without them even noticing.
There’s precedent for the things Johnson is talking about here. Smart bollards are already in place in areas of China, although they’re used to prevent jaywalking as opposed to traffic. A.I is also affecting traffic in places like Boston, where computers have designed school bus routes that are saving time and carbon dioxide. And there have been several examples of Alexas violating privacy.
But in talking about A.I., Johnson offered up an example that only has precedent in fiction. And it was weird.
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