What happens in a world where our net worth and socioeconomic status are floating above our heads? Will we be approached, ignored, or rejected?
If we had perfect recall of our reality, would we constantly play our memories back to ourselves or share intimate details with others?
How would our children react if we implanted technology to track their location, transmit & augment their vision and hearing in real-time?
These are questions I asked myself when I watched a few disturbing episodes of Black Mirror, ie: Nosedive (Series 3, Episode 1), The Entire History of You (Series 1, Episode 3), and Arkangel (Series 4, Episode 2). When I watched those episodes on Netflix in 2016, I didn’t think humanity would have to worry about them for a very long time. However, with AR (augmented reality) on the horizon, there are some pressing questions we should be asking ourselves right now.
If our greatest passions and interests could be transmitted into someone else’s direct field of view, will that help us engage in conversation with our children? While most of the world is locked down due the pandemic, social interactions are on a steep decline, even within tight-knit social bubbles.
If strangers and marketers had access to our data in AR without our consent, does the government need to step in to regulate companies with AR technologies? Currently, technology companies pretty much have autonomy over user data after they have accepted their terms of services.
You now may be asking yourself, what is AR today? Here’s how Facebook Reality Labs describes it.
While modern-day VR headsets fully immerse people in 3D virtual environments, augmented reality takes computer-generated images and overlays them on your view of the world. Today, that’s typically accomplished using the camera on your smart phone, tablet, or other mobile device, and we’re hard at work to bring the vision of lightweight, stylish AR glasses to life.
https://about.facebook.com/realitylabs/
With the power of image recognition and AI inferencing, data can be streamed in real-time, voluntarily or involuntarily. If AR apps gain access to enriched databases through the aid of public records, social media feeds and geo-locations, visual and audio data could be shared multi-directionally. Amazon comments, Yelp reviews and Venmo transactions could be harvested to help call the attention of prospective customers, with more targeted ads in a much more invasive way, than a simple push notification on a wearable device, like Apple Watch. Currently, there’s no standard for push notifications on Smart Glasses. With 360 degrees of spatial computing, AR provides a huge opportunity for consumers to explore and learn about new products & services in much deeper and meaningful way. With that said, AR apps should have broad oversight and accountability for digital ecosystem managers and affiliated partners.
The expectation is for Google or Apple to launch the most compelling OS to support an AR ecosystem. One can only hope that their Executives, Product Managers, as well as app developers empathize with concerns that have been thoroughly illustrated in “The Social Dilemma” film. There will be more at stake than just our data. The threat level for our privacy and freedom will reach new peaks with of AR technologies.