I think this is perhaps the principal near-term threat of AI: to commodify people into stereotypes. Pretty much all AI algorithms seek to classify their data (

I think this is perhaps the principal near-term threat of AI: to commodify people into stereotypes. Pretty much all AI algorithms seek to classify their data (us) into a smaller more manageable number of categories. AI methods work best when each of us 'consumers' fits neatly into one of these classes (whether predefined or emergent; each class's origin doesn't matter). Upon implementation, you shall become a label, so that future interaction with the AI can assume you to be a "Class 137" and lock you into a simplified model (with all your features having low value eigenvectors conveniently excluded). Deviation from this norm will not be tolerated, simply because there's less profit in it. Blah. If anything, better AI models of the world need to capture more subtlety leading to better user-driven customization, not less. For Predictive Design not to become yet another Big Brother, it needs to reflect each individual's unique constellation of attributes, not the single dumbed-down class they were labeled into. Seven billion classes. That's the ticket.