Contact Tracing with AI Poses Personal Privacy Tradeoffs - AI Trends

Efforts in contact tracing to try to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus had been going on before Google and Apple in early April announced their partnership on contact tracing technology. However, the two tech giants have proposed a way to share data while keeping user privacy central to the design. Recent news out of Singapore may point the way to how this is likely to go, pointing in the direction of the surveillance state. The pursuit of effective contact tracing embodies a confluence of issues around AI and surveillance, data privacy and public safety, and the roles of government and industry. Most contact tracing apps installed on smartphones use Bluetooth radio technology to record when other phones with the same app are detected nearby When a user shows symptoms or tests positive for Covid-19, alerts can be sent to all those in proximity over the previous week or two, along with suggestions for how to respond.