Synthetic Data: Illusions, Lies, Deceptions and the Reality

It will be supremely tough to differentiate between reality and deception in an Al dominated world that uses synthetic data.

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Data is synonymous with the word ‘information’ and in the 21st century, it is the most valuable asset. With every passing moment, more and more data is pumped into society. A common mistake that people make is to link the word ‘data’ with something related to computers or digital devices. It isn’t. Every book written and every picture painted forms a part of the ‘data’ circulating through society. The first form of data to be ever recorded can be traced back to cavemen’s paintings, stone sculptures, and so on.

Human beings have the innate tendency to try to replicate whatever they see or perceive. For example, the cavemen drew the animals they hunted, the storms that occurred, and so on. In the digital age, it is much easier to capture pictures of what we see, and record videos of what we experience. Apart from just what we perceive, what we do also forms a major part of the data in circulation -- for example, every bank transaction we carry out, every location we visit, and so on. And this data is not mere information; it is a valuable part and parcel of everyone’s life, and defines who they are. A computer system is able to perfectly predict one’s behavioural patterns with this data. This is nothing new. All of us have witnessed random ads on websites about the exact thing we are thinking about. There are even jokes around this, saying a computer is able to read minds, but in reality, it is able to perfectly predict your behaviour.