"Unleashing AI's Potential: Overcoming the Tyranny of the Data Commons"
The author argues that the concept of the data commons, where data is considered a non-rival resource and freely shared, has been exploited by corporations for their own profit. The free data generated by users on Big Tech platforms has been appropriated and used to train AI models, while corporations now pretend to be concerned about AI's disruptive power. The author highlights the hidden costs and labor behind data production and argues that public data has been declared "free" and treated as a common good, leading to what they call "data colonialism" and a tyranny of the commons. The author urges for the recognition of data as a rivalrous good and calls for measures to prevent the privatization and monetization of the data commons.