As a fan of the dystopian series ‘Black Mirror’ where there have been episodes that have involved characters living through their past through VR, a big focus on the hype of true crime documentaries, and the futuristic science episode where you have the opportunity to boost your social media score, I did think when are we going to see an episode based on Data & AI? And it got me thinking about the ethics of AI.
I felt like the 2023 series seemed to be the best time for it with the likes of AI and ChatGPT seemingly taking over and then the last episode I watched ‘Joan is Awful’ (highly recommend) had me thinking for hours…
‘What if I came home from work one night and there’s a new series of my life on the TV for all my peers, family and colleagues to watch?’
WARNING: SPOILER
This episode focuses on ‘Streamberry’ (AKA Netflix) and shows the ability of streaming services to collect users’ data that allows them to monitor their viewers. Now we all have those conversations where we believe that phones can hear us speaking, our laptop cameras could get hacked into, and ‘Joan is Awful’ presents how AI-generated showings of human lives could replace future writers. Among the ongoing writers strike it does raise the question of the ethics of AI.
Now if you’re anything like me, this sends shivers down your spine!
For a streaming website to take pretty much all of your data, including your IP address, GPS coordinates, and visual and audio data, to me I’d see this as a breach.
Shortly after watching this episode, I spoke with a friend of mine involved in the filming industry. She let me know that writers were going on strike due to artificial intelligence potentially becoming a major concern for writers as they could get replaced by ChatGPT in the future. With the current climate, this could lead to more job cuts and some of the most famous writers in the world having their material to be used as training data for AI systems.
(The scariest thing about this episode is that Streamberry is a real website, where you are able to upload a photo of yourself. Now if this is something you are thinking of doing as a bit of fun, the T&Cs say that your ‘photo may end up on a billboard’ and that users must consent to ‘Netflix use of my image for its marketing campaign.’ At least they are asking, so we can’t question the ethics of AI!
When my job includes talking to the Data & Analytics sector every day, I am now in a position where I go home and I hear my friends talk about it, it’s on the TV and there are strikes taking place. If I could take anything away from the last month, it would be to:
- Always check and double-check again what you are signing up to!
- Always read the Terms & Conditions, you never know where your data will end up!
Natalia Kurasinski
Natalia is a highly skilled talent partner. With a passion for identifying top talent and a strong commitment to customer service, she has established herself as a valuable resource to both clients and candidates in the data & analytics industry.
Natalia is highly skilled in all aspects of the talent solution process, including sourcing and screening candidates, conducting interviews, negotiating offers, and onboarding. She is able to quickly identify top talent using a range of recruitment tools and techniques. Read more.
