Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most talked about new technologies. The talk, from consumers,is as much negative as it is positive. Retailers and brands AI see it as the next big breakthrough in determining what to sell. Consumers see it as a growing invasion of privacy. The heightened publicity surrounding privacy breaches is adding fuel to the fire. Consumers no longer trust social media platforms and other tech service providers. That should be a signal for retailers - a preview of how things could turn out if they are not very careful about tracking consumers. <h3>Red Flags</h3> Google Ends AI Ethics Board. Google, a platform is based on tracking user behaviour, decided to take a pro-active stance and set up AI ethics advisory board. It lasted about a week, torn down by endless conflict over policy - and even who should serve on the board. The board attracted endless criticism from people inside and outside of the company. At heart of the contention was that no could agree on how to define ‘ethical boundaries’. “The AI ethics board seemed more like a marketing ploy to some than a sincere effort to self-regulate,” said a report from DZone. <h3>Legal Issues</h3> The EU enacted the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in May 2018, giving residents significant new rights over their personal data, including rights to access, query, and erase personal data held by organisations. Lawsuits against Facebook over data privacy issues are piling up. Sixteen suits have been filed to date. The precedent they set will have a long reach to companies that collection consumer data. Following the news that political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica LLC harvested the data of as many as 50 million Facebook users without proper disclosures or permissions -- and now the data-scraping of call logs from Android users -- a growing number of shareholders and users are suing the giant social network, reported The Street. In the US, law firms are now working more closely with state and municipal governments, where attorney generals can then sue under state laws that cover deceptive business practices. <h3>Market Signals</h3> Amazon (not Facebooks) gets consumer "Likes". Despite having come under fire for privacy issues surrounding its Alexa device, consumers largely trust Amazon. The company is the most-liked and trusted tech company, according to a recent study by The Verge last year. That could change overnight if Amazon ever has a data security breach. The rise in security breaches has acted as a wake-up call to most users, according to a report from Ping Identity 2018, which surveyed over 3,000 consumers in the US, UK, France, and Germany. Two out of three (66 percent) Americans said that they have taken steps to secure their data, such as changing privacy settings, removing a social media account or declining terms of agreement. 88% of consumers claiming transparency is the key to trust (IBM Cloud Marketing study) 37% of American consumers are say their top concern is companies sharing their data with other companies (TRUSTe/National Cyber Security Alliance). <h3>Take Away for Retail</h3> Data collection and use needs to be very carefully monitored. One wrong move could spiral into lose of trust in your company.