Spotify peeved after 10,000 users sold data to build AI tools

Summary

Critics of Vana, like TechCrunch's Kyle Wiggers, have suggested that data pools like Unwrapped will never reach "critical mass," likely only appealing to niche users drawn to decentralization movements. Kazlauskas told Ars that data sale payments issued in cryptocurrency are one barrier for crypto-averse or crypto-shy users interested in Vana. "The No. 1 thing I would say is, this kind of user experience problem where when you're using any new kind of decentralized technology, you need to set up a wallet, then you're getting tokens," Kazlauskas explained. Users may feel culture shock, wondering, "What does that even mean? How do I vote with this thing? Is this real money?" Kazlauskas is hoping that Vana supports a culture shift, striving to reach critical mass by giving users a "commercial lens" to start caring about data ownership. She also supports legislation like the Digital Choice Act in Utah, which "requires actually real-time API access, so people can get their data." If the US had a federal law like that, Kazlauskas suspects that launching Unwrapped would have been "so much easier." Although regulations like Utah's law could serve as a harbinger of a sea change, Kazlauskas noted that Big Tech companies that currently control AI markets employ a fierce lobbying force to maintain control over user data that decentralized movements just don't have. As Vana partners with Flower AI, striving, as Wired reported, to "shake up the AI industry" by releasing "a giant 100 billion-parameter model" later this year, Kazlauskas remains committed to ensuring that users are in control and "not just consumed." She fears a future where tech giants may be motivated to use AI to surveil, influence, or manipulate users, when instead users could choose to band together and benefit from building more ethical AI. "A world where a single company controls AI is honestly really dystopian," Kazlauskas told Ars. "I think that it is really scary. And so I think that the path that decentra...