Surveillance capitalism

Surveillance capitalism

An economic model, named and popularised by scholar Shoshana Zuboff, in which companies extract behavioural data from users, often without meaningful consent, to predict and influence future behaviour, chiefly for advertising. AI systems trained on and deployed within this model, from recommendation engines to targeted generative content, both depend on this data extraction and extend its reach, which is part of the case for open-source and self-hosted alternatives. (See also: Digital sovereignty, Algorithmic bias)