Gareth O'Callaghan: AI will soon know more about us than we know ourselves

In a world dominated by AI and data harvesting, privacy is becoming a relic of a bygone era

Rules that exist to protect personal privacy may no longer apply in this new world of AI. File photo

Imagine a life without privacy, in a world where vulnerability no longer carries weight. It's a terrifying prospect. Justin Timberlake once said: “The worst thing about being famous is the invasion of your privacy”. In recent years, privacy has become a dirty word.

There was a time when fame belonged in Hollywood and New York, to the lives of film stars and musicians, sports heroes and supermodels. Outside of their craft, most of them opted for a reclusive life behind high walls and electric gates, in places like Beverley Hills, or in Monaco or Zurich, or on private Caribbean islands.

What they all had in common was safe-guarding their privacy; how, once they stepped away from the cameras, their personal lives were strictly off limits. Many of them spent millions ensuring no one knew what they got up to in private.

Those days are gone – not just for the rich and famous, but for everyone. We have all become famous by default, by living our lives through the internet, which has become a tell-all society; a global village where everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, whether they like it or not.

The name of the village is Zero Privacy. It has no moral obligations. It’s a clinical landscape where personal identity is slowly being erased and replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

In the village, you don’t need to be well-known to achieve fame – as Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot found out when they were spotted canoodling at a Coldplay concert in Boston last month. But that’s not fame, as we once understood it, it’s a war on privacy.

Yes, the couple were having an affair. But the village mob made the moment even more grievous by naming Byron’s wife and identifying where she lived, followed by village gossip, including details of his daughter Marina – who doesn’t exist.

Was the couple’s privacy breached? Unlikely. Going to a concert with 70,000 in attendance diminishes any hopes you might have of privacy. Surely you’re aware of the chances of being caught on the kiss cam, just like Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela were during the band’s recent concert in Miami.

But privacy is also subjective, influenced perhaps by personal feelings and former life experiences.

In the village, you don’t need to be well-known to achieve fame – as Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot found out when they were spotted canoodling at a Coldplay concert in Boston last month.

Privacy is a value that sits somewhere outside of consciousness. While most of us regard it as a given, it’s not something we think about much; until a line has been crossed, and an innate boundary that exists within us has been breached.

Privacy is the right to be left alone. It’s a fundamental right, essential for the protection of personal dignity. Everyone is entitled to freedom from interference or intrusion.

From the moment each of us realises we are embodied, we begin to set personal boundaries. Without such barriers, we’re open to unwanted attention and prying.

Privacy gives us space to be ourselves without judgement, to think freely and independently without discrimination.

But rules that exist to protect personal privacy may no longer apply in this new world of AI. Just like the Hawksbill sea turtle, privacy is facing extinction.

Our private lives are like maps in our phones, which is why Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could ask to see your social media accounts next time you visit the States. Your privacy no longer matters, despite what the Fourth Amendment says.

Our private lives are like maps in our phones.

American technologist Gary Kovacs once said: “Privacy is not an option, and it shouldn’t be the price we accept for getting on the internet.” Only it is the price we pay. And we should be concerned by the amount of detailed information about ourselves that exists online.

Photos of faces can be scraped from social network sites without permission, and subjected to a search by facial-recognition technology. In a world of 8.2 billion people, AI can narrow the odds of identifying you by a photo. Is there a privacy issue? Probably; but there’s also the argument that your face isn’t private.

Every time you stare at the screen on your smartphone, regardless of what you're viewing, technology is staring back, recording minute details about who you are, piecing together an identity. AI is creating a comprehensive profile of our identities and our personal interests.

The problem with AI is that much of it is unregulated, so it’s impossible to know how much is known about each of us and how it might be used.

Ever wonder why the price of a flight increases when you revisit the airline’s website to double check it? That’s because you accepted the cookies on your first visit.

Cookies are small text files stored on your device by websites you visit. They identify the computer you’re using, while storing information, including your login details, your preferences and other interests.

The future of search engines will soon be dominated by AI, which in return for the information we’re looking for will gather even more of our private details – which brings me back to the question: What does privacy mean? File photo

Every time you log on, and click 'Accept All', and for every moment you are online, you are giving away more of your privacy. In return for making everything more comfortable and convenient, our privacy is being bled dry in the time it takes to toss a coin.

The Netflix docudrama Social Dilemma is worth watching, but it’s deeply unsettling. Former workers at social media companies spill the beans on how our data is collected and sold, and how they have created technology that quickly makes you addicted to their platforms.

According to a 2024 report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, over 70% of websites track users’ browsing habits, collecting data on everything from search history to location.

New EU rules came into force last week requiring makers of AI models to ensure their systems are safe and transparent. Meanwhile, the US has vowed to remove red tape in the sector.

The future of search engines will soon be dominated by AI, which in return for the information we’re looking for will gather even more of our private details – which brings me back to the question: What does privacy mean? Sadly, not as much as it used to.

We no longer even need instructions for a new phone - because once you login, your new phone knows who you are and what you want. After all, it’s your best friend.

But very few are heeding the warning signs. “So long as nothing bad happens” is a gamble we’re prepared to take – even those who claim to value their privacy.

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These companies know more about us than we believe we are disclosing online, but people still choose to stay rather than risk isolation and not being part of the global society.

This is the world we live in, created by a belief that the internet would unite us; when reality shows it has achieved the opposite. With the rapid advance of AI, we’re in grave danger of losing control of how we identify ourselves. 

Without privacy, we are in uncharted waters. Everyone is famous now; but fame carries a high price – higher than most can afford.