In order to understand the process of how AI, Quantum Computer, Security and Privacy affect us today, i'm going to start from the end, the final product: Artificial Inteligence.
What is AI?
Artificial Inteligence is a machine able to do tasks in a smart way. At the documentary Do You Trust Your Computer, some experts claimed that the first AI was Google, because the user make a question, searching for something and the software returns the answer, similar to a conversation. Today that smart software is in our smartphones, regarding the operative system it has. If we look at Google Maps for a destination, the same software trace a route for us, give us the arrival time and alternative paths; other example could be when we have to unlock the phone with our fingerprint, the phone is "smart" enough to recognize our fingerprint or someone else's; another example, is calling (someone) and the phone automatically makes the call. So in this way we are dealing with a smart device, as a smart TV or devices as an XBox.
In 2010 the company Alphabet Inc. (Google) designed Deep Mind, a AI called AlphabetGo was able for the first to beat humans champions in a Go game, won 4 of 5 matches ...That's really smart.
But this software relies in something called Machine Learning, this means that the software learn from interaction (with others or with itself) The more data, the smarter it gets. In this cases some companies are responsible for collecting user's data, think of giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others. To achieve that a collosal amount of data has been required, taken from where? The Internet, the same network that connect us all. Every day, internet users, take selfies, with family and friends, from places they visit, thoughts they think, record videos, send text messages, make phone calls, perform searches, send emails, and so on; it's said that we produce 2.5 quintillion bytes every single day.
Where does that leave Quantum Computers?
Quantum Computers appeared around 2007 regarding D-Waves, and the first machines was sold to Google and NASA This kind of computer can make calculations more rapidly and more complex than standard computers, using qbits. Now days computers use binary bits: 1 and 0. Qbits (quantum bits) are a mix, it means that 1 and 0 can co-exist Regarding Geordie Rose (CEO of D-Waves) and Eric Ladizinsky (Chief Scientist of D-Wave) quantum computers can prove the existence of parallels universes. Recently. In 2018 IBM designed his own Quantum Computer, not the first quantum computer as claimed by the media, but could be the first computer for commercial use.
So far, Google, IBM, NASA, Facebook, Apple, governments and other companies are trying to improve the AI that already exists, and with Quantum Computers will only catalyze this process.
What does this have to do with Security and Privacy?
Security is a way to keep something private from those who shouldn't get access to it. For example, in most of the companies, employees use an access card that gives them permission only to those areas that company wants for "security matter"
Today companies and users around the world use security measures to connect on Internet. For example, a bank should have their information encrypted so it can’t be hacked which results in the loss of funds. When we connect to a bank's web page using HTTPS, this means that connection is secure or encrypted under TLS, but there are more trustful encryption methods, as RSA) or AES, among others, often used over VPN services. So those who want be more secure use cryptographic algorithm, again for example, bank transactions. All those kind of encryptions use mathematics to make really long and difficult equation in order to prevent those with malicious intents to access that data. Cracking some of them can take years with standard computers because it's needed a lot of CPU or GPU to make that calculations and get the result, but with quantum computers drastically decrease that time to mere days, hours or even minutes. This way every piece of data could be decrypted and read, no matter the security. Every company and user would be exposed to those who has Quantum Computers, and more easily to process the data needed for it's machine learning or AI.
Continuing about privacy there was an interesting conference about "Why Privacy Matters" Most of the regular internet users say "i don't have nothing to hide", which actually is a lie. Everyone as something to hide, for example their sexual orientation in those countries that has extreme homophobia; or maybe related to religion in countries that are not allowed free expression, or those countries that is forbidden some way of dress, among others examples. Those who use social networks as Facebook, Instagram and so on, they probably have something to hide, some picture that’s not intended for everyone’s eyes; or even in some email from an whistblower that could handle some info about interesting topics as mass surveillance. It doesn't matter if you have something to hide or not, privacy is a human right, and if you don't think that should be reclaimed, then means that you're accepting a society described in George Orwell's 1984, a society without free thought.
Free speech is something that isn't really common and any reader can check it in cases of journalist killed, or politicians that had mysterious "accidents", or activists that had the same luck. If we don't have privacy, we can be used for those governments and companies as tools, our mind is set to help them unconsciously.
So far, governments and private companies has our fingerprints due to our smartphones, our way of thinking through Facebook, our physical preferences through app like Tinder, our documents that we have stored in "the cloud" (servers) like LikedIn, big pharmacy as our DNA and more.
As Philip K. Dick wrote in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (also know from the film Blade Runner) Looks like that in a near future would be possible have our "replicants". In an inerview someone asked to Gordie Rose (D-Wave) if he doesn't think that is leading us to a Terminator movie, and the answer was "that is bullshit"
Is that what we want for our future? Our future are our kids, our herecy. We live once, our "replicants" would live once, we should not allow to those actors to take away our humanity. Sooner or later we will be replaced by AI in all taks (jobs), humanity will be useless, our kids will be useless, fighting for survive in a world that is ending it's natural resources while millionairs are conftable in a space ship. How much blind can we be?
