Yvette Schmitter: Why Your Data Is More Valuable Than Your Vote
In this episode, Yvette Schmitter unpacks the uncomfortable truth about modern AI: how convenience turns citizens into data points. We go deep on AI privacy, data ethics, and the industry incentives that drive data brokers, invasive biometrics, and “consent theater” in Terms of Service. Yvette blends engineering chops with no-nonsense clarity to show what needs to change—and what you can do today.📧📧📧Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter!📧📧📧Key highlights:AI privacy explained in real-world terms—what you trade away when you click AcceptData brokers 101: how your info is collected, bundled, and resoldThe “action figure” experiment: a vivid story about bias and representation in AI imageryBiometrics and identity: faces, voice prints, and why “frictionless” can be riskyRegulatory theater vs. meaningful guardrails—and where pro-innovation actually fitsBanks, voice recognition, and moving money: the security-privacy tradeoffQuotes from the Episode“Pro-innovation. I love innovation. I’m anti-bullshit.”“Since we don’t buy votes, why would we buy people’s data?”Chapters00:00 Introductions and Setup03:27 The Consent Illusion & Data Brokers: Turning People into Data Points04:40 The “Action Figure” AI Fail & Biometrics and Identity12:59 Terms of Service – Read Before You Play19:59 Regulatory Theater and Real-World Harms24:03 Pro-Innovation vs Guardrails – Finding the Line45:59 Banks, Voice Recognition, and Moving Money56:49 Final Thoughts – Sensible Guardrails for AI StartupsWhere to find Yvette SchmitterYou can contact her via LinkedIn, or the Fusion Collective website 🚀post on being “Huang’d” by ChatGPT when she asked it to turn her into a “Cloud Jedi." Also a recent Substack article that takes it a step further. - EU AI Code of Conduct: 26 companies signed, META did not - Layoff data, the numbers:Microsoft laid off 19,175 people IBM was refreshingly honest about replacing 200 HR employees with chatbots Intel cut 33,900 jobs, 20% of their workforce, while pivoting to AI services. - The Register: Attributed by Hood to 'go-to-market execution challenges'- Channelweb: "Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said that non-AI Azure sales saw 'go-to-market execution challenges' in the vendor's 'scale motion"- SiliconANGLE: "causing the Microsoft stock price to fall more than 4% in extended trading"- Yahoo Finance: "Microsoft shares tumbled as much as 5% in extended trading Wednesday" - Check out this graphic depicting tech companies with the largest layoffs in 2025 - Microsoft: Amy Hood's "Go-to-Market Execution Challenges" Quote:$22.6 Billion Capital ExpenditureGeekWire: "For the quarter, Microsoft reported capital expenditures of $22.6 billion, a new record high"Stock Drop & Market Reaction." ---Tune in to get my thoughts, and don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter! Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads
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