The data revolution is most certainly reaching its second phase. The "early age" of data started in the early 2010s and peaked in the mid-2020s as datas, our datas, became as important as the currencies of the day.
After a period of stabilization, the “age of synthetic data” has gradually come. What is it about?
Synthetic data is to data what artificial intelligence is to intelligence. Namely, if we cannot have sufficient natural resources, we end up creating virtual resources that boost the development of an economy.
Faced with the explosion of the data market, the applications and softwares making use of this data have become increasingly greedy. From driverless vehicles to driverless individual drones. From connected cities to autonomous cities where public decision-making is taken in real time with almost no human intervention.
Faced with these important developments in the field of automated management, it was necessary to provide increasingly large, more and more accurate, more and more varied databases. But the time to gather this information, and the cost involved, was far too important to be satisfactory.
The developers have therefore created artificial intelligence systems creating synthetic data deducted from the real data to bring more possibilities, options and case studies to these information eaters.
The opportunity was too good for those who still wish to influence our choices and our destinies and maintain a power which they obtained by cunning more than by social assent.
Following election scandals influenced by hackers and other companies manipulating data via behavioral engineering (strongly disputed by researchers in psychology and psychiatry), the legal and judicial response has not been strong enough. This has given a sense of impunity to those who, even today, seek to influence to dominate without responsibility.
And the market for biased synthetic data was born.
Indeed, it suffices to modify the algorithm for generating this synthetic data to orient the results of the simulations in the desired direction. And despite repeated calls from the European Union since 2029 to legislate on a global scale for better monitoring of individual and societal data, the influence of major states with a populist tendency has blocked any attempt to do so.
What did not fail to create certain situations of chaos in self-managed cities such as San Francisco and Singapore which found themselves faced with situations contrary to human rights: forced dismissal of certain ethnic minorities under cover of “Health risk”, influence of the local media inundated with erroneous information… Faced with the extent of the damage, the big states are starting to realize the importance of putting the hola on this new deregulated Eldorado. It remains to be seen when an agreement will be reached.