Who am I in 4th Industrial Revolution?
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By Jason Lim
No, I am not writing about one of the oldest and most frustrating questions in human history and a spiritual quest. I actually want to explore the topic of identity in the context of the coming 4th Industrial Revolution.
There are many visions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As a primary ambassador for this phenomenon, the World Economic Forum (WEF) proposes the following breathless vision: “The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing.”
But what the WEF says about the underpinning trends is more important: “The trends that underpin Industry 4.0 mean consumers are now on the cusp of a hyper-personalized era with fundamental changes in terms of choice, consumption, ownership and our overall experience of products and services.”
In essence, hyper-personalization based on ubiquitous connectivity by a seamless and integrated suite of invisible sensors ― driven by AI algorithms that can push out customized experiences through products and services ― will be a defining capability of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
This is where the question, “Who am I?” becomes especially salient. Or rather, the better question is, “Am I who you think I am?” This is from the individual consumer's perspective who is the recipient of the hyper-personalized experience. Turn this perspective around to the providers, the question becomes, “Are you who I think you are?”
This is not an easy question. Identity management, from the provider's perspective, becomes a multi-pronged puzzle to solve.
First, you have to enroll the individual's identity into your system. But this involves identity validation whereby you assure that the person claiming to be someone is that someone. Currently, government issued credentials ― like birth certificates, passports, and driver's licenses ― serve this function. However, especially in the U.S., each state oversees its own identity validation process, which means that the overall quality of the identity validation process varies greatly. Some states are more stringent than others while some states enforce compliance better than others. And since federal identity credentials like passports rely mostly on state-issued credentials, the underlying credibility of identity validation isn't as solid as it seems.
The same goes for nation-states. There is no global body that I know of that certifies the validity of each member state's identity validation process for its own citizens against some universal standards. And what about citizens of failed states? What if there are no recognized governments that can issue such identity papers? Or, how would refugees who barely escaped with only the clothes on their backs validate their identities in their new countries without foundational documents?
Second, you have to assess the identity. By this, I mean that you have to collect relevant behavioral information on the identity that you enrolled and analyze it per your need to provide the hyper-personalized service or products. In essence, this is what the Amazon's of the world do already. Based on your previous browsing, purchasing, or driving patterns, companies can offer you just-in-time inducements for services that will greatly enhance your personal experience as you pass through their commercial service space.
This will be largely driven by Big Data and artificial intelligence engines, which means that privacy, data security, aggregation, profiling, along with other systems all become issues that would need to be resolved either through technology, education or regulations. Therefore, depending on the target population, the provider's solution architecture will have to be customized not just technically but governance-wise as well.
Third, at each point of contact or service with the target customer, the providers will have to verify the identity that has been enrolled and validated. This is where the majority of the current identity management discussion takes place, whether the verification is done through credentials or biometrics. This is actually the easiest part of the whole identity management value chain since it can be easily solved through technology.
However, identity verification is directly downstream to what happens upstream in identity enrollment, validation, and assessment, which means that you have to design your whole end-to-end identity management schema as a cohesive, strategic whole. You can't put solutions that have each been developed in isolation side-by-side and expect to create a seamless identity experience for your customers.
This may not be a huge deal for commercial service providers. The worst thing that could happen would be to provide the wrong personalized experience to someone. However, to nation-states and other similar institutions, the wrong identity management solution is actually a serious issue. Not knowing who your citizens are or who's coming and going within your boundary could turn into a national security issue, especially if there are vulnerabilities along the identity chain that bad actors could take advantage of.
In this brave new age, you are no longer automatically who you assert yourself to be. You are you only if you can be validated and verified as you. So, who am I again?
Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.