Twitter TWTR, +0.40% Facebook FB, -0.45% Microsoft MSFT, +0.03% and similar technology companies possess copious amounts of data on every individual using their services. Until not too long ago, this info was difficult to use, simply because of its sheer size and complexity. Human analysts would need years and thousands of working hours to define, detect and follow complex trends that the data point out. By that time, new trends would have formed, and researchers would have wasted their time.
All this changed with the advent of artificial intelligence, or AI. Artificial intelligence thrives on being fed huge amounts of data, running it through algorithms and coming up with trends and detecting patterns almost in real time. For the first time, AI has allowed companies to understand the flow of information and sentiment on a global scale. Now they not only understand the data, they can also measure it, sell it and, finally, manipulate it.
Age of surveillance
Governments covet this data, which means we’re in a new age of surveillance and espionage. Modern espionage is no longer bound by national borders and real-world covert operations. Instead, it is based on data manipulation and propaganda, injected directly into globally popular online media hubs.
Read More.. Source Market Watch