Building the New Economy: Data as Capital

How to empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, and secure digital transaction systems.

Data is now central to the economy, government, and health systems—so why are data and the AI systems that interpret the data in the hands of so few people? Building the New Economy calls for us to reinvent the ways that data and artificial intelligence are used in civic and government systems. Arguing that we need to think about data as a new type of capital, the authors show that the use of data trusts and distributed ledgers can empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, machine learning fairness principles and methodologies, and secure digital transaction systems.

It’s well known that social media generate disinformation and that mobile phone tracking apps threaten privacy. But these same...