The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gained unprecedented access to sensitive federal databases, sparking concerns about cybersecurity vulnerabilities and privacy violations. However, the real issue is the potential use of this data to train private companies’ artificial intelligence systems.
Elon Musk’s control over DOGE and his employees’ dual employment with government agencies create a conduit for federal data to be siphoned to Musk-owned enterprises, including xAI. The company’s latest AI chatbot model refuses to deny using such data, raising concerns about the potential transmission of sensitive information to private companies.
For AI developers, government databases offer valuable and verified records of human behavior across entire populations. These databases capture real decisions and their consequences, providing a longitudinal nature and reliability that online data cannot match. By training AI systems on this data, companies can gain insights into actual human experience rather than just digital reflections.
Access to comprehensive government data would create an insurmountable advantage for companies seeking to build next-generation AI systems. A company like xAI could potentially control how people understand and manage complex societal systems, including healthcare and economic policies. With access to Medicare, Treasury, and infrastructure databases, xAI could develop extraordinary capabilities for forecasting, prediction, and optimization.
The concentration of unprecedented data in the hands of a private entity with an explicit political agenda poses a profound challenge to democracy. Even if personal identifiers are removed, an AI system analyzing patterns across millions of government records could enable surprising capabilities for making predictions and influencing behavior at the population level.
As the power of information becomes more critical, it is essential to consider whether the American people can stand up against potentially corruption-shattering concentration of data in private hands. The future of democracy depends on ensuring that access to sensitive information remains in the public domain, rather than being exploited by a single private company.
Source: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/opinion-doge-threat-government-data-would-give-an-ai-company-extraordinary-power