Regaining control of your online identity in the era of data-driven AI

Consider this common scenario: You’re in the market for a new smartphone, so you head to your favourite website to check prices. Suddenly, targeted ads for that smartphone start popping up everywhere online.

 

This is the data-driven world we inhabit. Copious amounts of personal data are gathered, analysed and wielded to sway our decisions and actions.

 

Understanding digital identity

 

Our online activities leave behind a trail of data: search history, purchasing patterns, browsing behaviour and even location details.

 

Brands leverage this data to craft our digital personas. Just as a passport serves as identification in the physical realm, these digital identities mirror our preferences and engagements across online platforms. However, they come with their own unique challenges.

 

Transparency poses the most significant hurdle. While every online interaction contributes to our digital identity, this data typically stays within the websites the original interactions occur on. But as control over that data shifts to third parties, users are often unaware of who is collecting and accessing their data, and its destination and purpose, which fosters distrust.

 

Moreover, this segmentation of data can lead to misrepresentations of digital identities by third parties, further undermining trust. Coupled with the persistent threat of data breaches, these challenges are compounded by the rising adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).

 

Balancing AI’s potential and risks

 

The surge in AI adoption, fuelled in particular by data-intensive large language models (LLMs) driving generative AI (GenAI), amplifies concerns about data privacy, ethical usage and unintended consequences. The datasets behind AI training are often sourced without the consent of their original creators, raising privacy concerns.

 

AI tracks online behaviours, analyses digital datasets and identifies patterns, and uses these for advertising and personalisation, among other purposes. “AI is incredibly data-hungry. The more data you feed it, the better results it yields, but it’s a double-edged sword,” says Glenn Gore, CEO of Affinidi. “The more AI knows about you, the higher the risk of data compromise or misuse.”

 

Data breaches often reveal companies holding more data than necessary, further eroding customer trust. As AI’s capabilities expand, the misuse of personal information becomes a pressing concern.

 

Governments and regulatory bodies worldwide are rushing to develop frameworks to maximise AI benefits while minimising privacy risks. The EU’s adoption of the EU AI Act is at the spearhead of these efforts.

 

The evolving AI landscape underscores the need for effective identity management as companies navigate personalisation and data privacy to maintain customer trust and loyalty.

 

Empowering users through holistic identity management

 

Consumers’ digital identities are fragmented across platforms, each capturing different facets of their persona. “YouTube knows what I like to watch, Amazon knows what I like to buy, Spotify knows what I like listening to and LinkedIn knows my professional network,” says Gore.

 

“However, due to data fragmentation, Spotify doesn’t know what I listen to when I exercise and LinkedIn doesn’t know what I like to purchase for my office colleagues.”

 

Holistic identity management aims to change all this, by centralising users’ oversight of their digital footprint. It gives individuals greater insight and control into their data, providing a 360-degree view of their digital footprint. This enables users to discover, collect, store, share and even potentially monetise their information.

 

That way, consumers have the power to reclaim their data ownership, regain control over digital identities and actively safeguard privacy.

 

Revolutionising customer interactions with holistic identity

 

For businesses, adopting holistic identity management revolutionises customer interactions by offering a secure, streamlined approach that enhances personalisation and trust. And because it incorporates privacy by design (the concept that data protection be integrated at the foundation of the technology that processes it), holistic identity management aligns with stringent data protection laws, mitigates breach risks and enhances customer satisfaction and retention, fostering sustainable relationships. Companies are increasingly prioritising giving customers control over their data, recognising it as a pivotal element in fostering trust and delivering enhanced experiences. A key component is consent management at the attribute level, which provides users with precise control over their personal information, thereby enhancing privacy.

 

“When customers control their data and share it with businesses they trust, a two-way relationship is built where they receive a better experience in return, unlocking these much richer interactions with businesses,” says Gore.

 

“At Affinidi, what we’re working on are the technologies that allow customers to have the best experience, while maintaining the highest possible degree of privacy and confidentiality as customers interact with different businesses.”

 

Affinidi endeavours to transform digital identity by allowing individuals to regain control over fragmented data while ensuring the data’s integrity and its chain of custody. Its holistic identity approach covers all aspects of online data handling, empowering users through the Affinidi Trust Network (ATN) to manage data effectively and unlock its true value.

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Read more about ATN here