The Gigabyte

Data science is an astonishing new universe. It has come upon our society so suddenly that it has changed us overnight, producing exotic kinds of innovation, and creating sinkholes under our feet that never existed before.

Storage security has become a chronic issue. We can no longer keep our information in vaults and locked rooms, but in common servers and clouds that leave it constantly exposed to interlopers. Even the most sophisticated security techniques are not invulnerable to novel methods of hacking. The world of data is a volatile landscape of shifting sands and unforeseen dangers. And as our data capacity has increased – from kilobytes, to megabytes, to gigabytes – these dangers have multiplied.

Meanwhile, the concept of “personal information” has turned inside out. It used to be something as simple as a phone number, or home address, or a social insurance number. But now, data and metadata can be used to microscope a person’s body, routine and attentional habits, and we have the tools to reconstruct it (now especially with AI) to profile someone very accurately. Even a few scattered data points can be rearranged to open an intimate window into someone’s personal life.

These risks, when combined, have virtually obliterated the concept of digital privacy. When your data is acquired by other entities, it can be brokered to third parties for profits or used to steal your identity. Perhaps most concerningly of all, it can be used to interpret the way your attention works – what you pursue, what you avoid – and therefore to manipulate you and leverage your behaviour for other interests.

These dangers are now well known to us. But the final problem of data is one we don’t often talk about: the sheer wastefulness. Data is often called “the new oil” but it is more like the sunshine that each person gives off. If we had the tools to capture and reflect this light, to mirror it back to the person – safely, clearly and privately – it would have so much to say, so much insight to lend to a person’s life. It could help each of us know ourselves a little better, and help us see and escape patterns we could not see on our own.

This is the purpose of AGNi