Where are the limits of Big Data?

The challenges facing the data society

Data has become the most valuable resource of companies. The ways of relating to clients are changing quickly. The way in which a company sells its services and products is no longer the same as a few years ago. Thanks to them they can reach more potential customers and accelerate the process of growing their business in a more practical and useful way. 

However, the new technological processes that companies use based on data are also generating problems and risks that create other points of view, such as where are the limits of the use of personal information or new automatic business processes developed to work without human help.

Big Data

Although Big Data and Artificial Intelligence solutions are collaborating in the research of new solutions to current problems, there is always an open criticism towards this type of processes, around cases where they have been a problem rather than a solution.

Despite these reasons, it is still a fact that we find a reflection on the limits of automated processes that are carried out thanks to Artificial Intelligence or Data Science, and how it can affect companies.

When technology decides for us

Automatic software analysis solutions programmed to make decisions based on certain information can lead to errors that adversely affect people. Technology can help us discern and choose in many cases, but sometimes human interpretation is necessary to avoid making wrong decisions.

A good example of this happened in Amazon between August 2017 and September 2018. The giant e-commerce fired 300 people from one of its warehouses automatically. This was a decision made from a software system in charge of measuring the productivity of the employees. This software generated warnings when it considered that the employee was not performing at the expected level, and in some cases, those warnings became automatic dismissals.

“A software system to measure the productivity of the employees ended with 300 people automatically dismissed”.

A system that counts within a favor and against opinions, assuring that the system monitors the time but is not able to interpret the productivity of a worker as a person would. Amazon, on the other hand, told the magazine MIT Technology that there had never been a dismissal without the approval of a supervisor.

Security

Cyber attacks are one of the biggest risks that is facing the “technology age”. Continuous data exposure becomes a big drawback when security failures happen.

What is the meaning of data

One of the big problems is knowing how to handle those large amounts of data. Managing the data correctly and give them a good use is one of the great challenges for companies currently.

Therefore, Data Science or Big Data solutions are becoming more profitable, since they provide valid solutions to a crucial problem such as the interpretation and management of small or large amounts of data.

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