The Matrix of Privacy: Data Infrastructure in the AI-Powered Metaverse
55 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2023 Last revised: 7 Dec 2023
Date Written: February 18, 2023
Abstract
How realistic is the idea of an artificial intelligence-assisted, decentralized and privacy-enhancing future generation of the World Wide Web? Could data governance and other legal tools currently employed to address the various information violations of Web2 – often in an insufficient way – help tackle the new privacy challenges that Web3 brings about? These central questions set the stage for this Article’s inquiry: how do we (re-) conceptualize privacy challenges in Web3, including in immersive digital spaces, and what is referred to by some as the metaverse? The Article begins by describing such immersive virtual spaces as well as their technological foundation. It explains what privacy concerns and risks might stem from the vast amount of data generated, gathered, and exchanged in our increasingly artificial intelligence-based immersive, digital world. Most importantly, the Article argues that in Web3, data has an evolved role; it is not only a valuable resource as understood in Web1 and Web2, but it is the infrastructure itself. Building on these notions, the Article introduces the multidimensional conceptualization of how data exchanges would occur in the metaverse, by distinguishing between three levels of analysis: micro, macro, and meso. Drawing upon ideas from the Complex System Theory, we examine how information laws and artificial intelligence-related policies and regulations address privacy challenges in each level of data relationship. Finally, we propose a market-based solution that calls lawmakers to impose privacy mandatory disclosure obligations concerning compliance with data protection regulation and the use of AI as well as complementary liability regimes. This will motivate metaverse entities to self-regulate their AI infrastructures and ensure meaningful privacy protection.
Keywords: AI-powered metaverse, data infrastructure, multidimensional conceptualization of data exchanges, Complex System Theory, privacy mandatory disclosure obligations, data protection
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