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Kagan: Which AI protects user privacy best — Siri, Home or Alexa?

Artificial Intelligence is hot and early in its growth wave. However, not all AI is recreated equal. So, which AI protects your privacy the best, Apple Siri, Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Microsoft Cortana? With that said, only some companies care about protecting user privacy. Others violate user trust for commercial purposes. Let’s take a look at the best from the user perspective with regards to value and privacy.

Rapidly growing technology has always been both exciting and a breeding ground for all the bad things that can also come along with it. Typically, all the bad parts of a new technology usually get exposed and sometimes they are fixed. Other times they are left alone. Either way, the user is exposed to problems they didn’t know about and can make a decision whether to buy or not. 

AI learns about us and helps us. Different companies use AI in different ways. Some companies just use it to help you do certain things better or easier. Other companies use their technology to build a mountain of data on every user. Then they use this data in a variety of ways, like determining what ads to send you.

Once you write or say anything by email, text, surfing the web, video chat, audio chat or any other way you connect with the Internet, your information is stored, forever. It is kept in servers owned by companies or at giant server farms owned by the United States government.

That means anything about you, your likes and dislikes, your preferences, your family or business discussions, your most private, persona, intimate moments are all stored.

Privacy? Gone. So, focus on privacy protection

Your personal and private information can be pulled and reviewed by anyone with access. That’s what has been happening to us over the last few decades. Every mile we drive in our cars with a navigation system, every radio station we listen to or cable television channel we watch is stored.

Privacy? Forget about it. We have no more privacy. Privacy is only an illusion. So, rather than wasting our time trying to protect something we have already lost, privacy protection is what we should be focused on.

Much of this was laid out for us all to see when Marc Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook testified before Congress several weeks ago. I don’t think Zuckerberg or Facebook is evil but there is no denying that privacy is gone thanks to companies like Facebook. And the average user doesn’t understand what they are giving up.

Many company executives forbid their children from using these services for this precise reason. Why is it okay for the rest of the world to use this technology and not their own children?

Then again, it sounds like the singer Madonna. She won’t let her children see her perform because of the lurid nature of her art. However, she can screw with the minds of the rest of the world and she’s okay with that. It’s how she earns income.

People and companies who screw with the minds of the rest of the world, while protecting themselves and their families are simply wrong. They know it. They should be protecting the rest of the world rather than harming it.

Apple Siri, HomePod best protects user privacy

So which companies protect user privacy the best and which exploit it?

Apple Siri is the company and technology that puts customer privacy front and center. They seem to protect user privacy better than every other major company with Artificial Intelligence technology. 

If you recall, several years ago, Apple would not help investigators unlock an iPhone to find out if there were any next targets to a recent terror attack. That took a lot of kahunas for Tim Cook, Apple CEO to stand up to the US Government, but they seemed to have survived. 

Whether you agree with this case or not, it is a great example of how far Apple will go in protecting user privacy. That does not mean they will always do so, but for now they are the best at it.

Apple Siri was the first AI service on a smartphone. It was the leader of the pack. However, in recent years, it doesn’t seem to have improved much, and that is a disappointment. That is a separate issue and one that Apple should correct immediately. If they do and if they can continue to protect the user privacy best, then Siri could be an AI winner going forward.

Apple HomePod uses Siri, but user perception is that it is not as forward-thinking as Google Home and Amazon Alexa. This is a mistake Apple should quickly fix. 

Artificial Intelligence providers who invade privacy

The other major players are Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Millions of users have purchased these devices that sit and listen to everything that goes on around it. When the magic key word is said, it replies.

The problem is, this AI is always listening and always recording everything it hears. That means there is no more privacy in your own home. Perhaps we should start thinking of our private space as always having someone in the room, like maybe a housekeeper or an advertising executive or government worker. 

Microsoft Cortana is also a player in this space. They do not have the same kind of brand and name recognition but they are there, always listening — like every other AI device around you.

AI is always listening — and recording

Let me give you an example. Do you have an iPhone sitting next to you? Try this. Without touching it say, “Hey Siri”, and see what happens next. Surprise! Siri was always sitting there, always listening. It just responded with you used the certain access words.

This is the same with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana and, most likely, with every other AI device out there. Is this the kind of information you want saved forever on massive servers?

There’s no escape from the AI invasion of privacy. At least Apple protects and respects user privacy better than their competitors — for now.

Apple’s next step should be to improve Siri and make it a viable competitor to Google Home and Amazon Alexa. That way at least our problems with loss of privacy won’t be solved, but we can choose the lesser of of the privacy invaders.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Jeff Kagan
Jeff Kaganhttp://jeffkagan.com
Jeff is a RCR Wireless News Columnist, Industry Analyst, Key Opinion Leader and Influencer. He shares his colorful perspectives and opinions on the companies and technologies that are transforming the industry he has followed for 35 years. Jeff follows wireless, wire line telecom, Internet, Pay-TV, cable TV, AI, IoT, Digital Healthcare, Cloud, Mobile Pay, Smart cities, Smart Homes and more.