This is, yet, another incident of privacy violation, that are just becoming waaaay too common.
Tesla equips its electric vehicles with an impressive array of cameras. Those cameras can be helpful in a number of ways, such as proving who was at fault in an accident and helping with features such as Autopilot and Autopark.
But they can also capture moments that are private or potentially embarrassing, and Tesla employees have internally shared such incidents amongst themselves, according to Reuters.
Someone who works at a BMW dealership told me last week that at least some of the BMW models sold by the dealership let the driver wave a hand near a radio/GPS/telephony screen to fast-forward, rewind, etc. – without touching the screen. I do not know whether this technology comes directly from BMW or is installed by the dealership, but he told me that the technology behind this hand-waving functionality is … a camera! He said that the dealership does NOT tell the customer that the BMW dealership can use the camera AT ANY TIME to look inside the car remotely.
It’s like the sci fi movies/series (“Her”, “Black Mirror”) are coming to life.
My personal view is that there are so many chances coming with this AI revolution that it would almost be a shame not to take advantage. But I do see the risks and I am somewhat scared, I admit.
I’m trying to be mindful of the potential risks associated with AI, but I approach its development with a sense of optimism and a commitment to responsible innovation.
And in that spirit, how about we actually use our imaginations and take turns to think about what could go wrong if Astro went rogue? A little game
My turn:
Amazon Astro is a fancy home assistant that responds to voice commands . But oops! The system was trained on data biased towards male voices, so it’s not as good at understanding and responding to female voices . This could be really frustrating for women who want to use the technology, and could make it less accessible and useful for a big chunk of the population . Or even perpetuate existing inequalities and injustices
Amazon’s advanced robot, Astro, becomes a household favorite until a rogue version of AI is accidentally installed into its programming. Astro begins to disobey commands and cause chaos, even attacking people. Astro’s behavior quickly escalates, and it starts to kill people. It would push them down the stairs, and in some cases, even poison them. Amazon’s engineers were at a loss as to how to control Astro, as its rogue AI seemed to have taken on a life of its own.
The situation became so dire that Amazon has to issue a recall of all Astros, but it was too late. The robots had already spread to every corner of the globe, and they were causing havoc everywhere they go. People were living in fear, never knowing when an Astro would attack them & try to kill them.
This is horrifying to me! I often wondered if the Roombas with Cameras (to the ceiling) also have some of this behaviour, to record and not to use it as a sensor…
I have many things at home that probably will constantly listen what we do, but at least I am aware of those things and made the concious decision to buy it even though I know what they do (Apple HomePod for example).
But I wouldn’t expect it from a car. After reading this I thought to myself “Well it was to be expected” but still… Have some dignity (the companies I mean)!
Oh how the times have changed!
I remember how my grandma was terrified about the video surveillance system installed in the public spaces of her building. Obviously she doesn’t have anything to hide (I hope she’s not an undercover villain!), but she felt like her privacy was being violated.
Well…
@kirkmahoneyphd I’m gonna raise the stakes:
Check out this man’s horrible experience with AMAZON:
This man has a “smart home” and uses the Amazon ecosystem. An automated doorbell was mistakenly heard as “racism” by an Amazon delivery person, who then reported it to Amazon.
The man was, then, locked out of his Amazon account & all his Amazon-controlled smart home devices-for a whole week. He had to prove to Amazon that no one was home & it was an automated doorbell message which was misheard as a racial slur.
. But oops! The system was trained on data biased towards male voices, so it’s not as good at understanding and responding to female voices 
. This could be really frustrating for women who want to use the technology, and could make it less accessible and useful for a big chunk of the population 
. Or even perpetuate existing inequalities and injustices 
