Companies’ drive for data could put citizens at risk

In China, shared power banks, cars, and vending machines have more in common than is evident at first glance. The technologies aren’t new, far from it. But they have been given new life by the internet. And more specifically, data.

Data is the lifeblood of artificial intelligence (AI), for which China has huge ambitions. The country has developed an outline to become the world leader in AI technologies by 2030. Companies are looking to cash in on this trend, but by developing data-first strategies they could be putting the country’s citizens at risk.

Speaking at TechCrunch Shenzhen 2018, Ren Mu, chief marketing officer at Laidian Technology, a firm that provides shared power banks, said that some players in the industry believe creating access to data-driven products is more important than the power bank sharing itself.  

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