Self-Sovereign Identity in 2030 Explained

What if we "Owned our data," meaning that instead of trusting the Googles and Facebooks with our precious data - a resource more valuable than oil - we are the custodians of our data, and we only share it when we choose, in certain contexts, and perhaps we can sell it or license it?

"With the current state of artificial intelligence, we are getting to a point where any person could be able to deep fake any other person," says Paula Berman, a digital identity expert and member of RadicalXChange, the organization that pushes for greater data dignity and penned The Data Freedom Act.

If we own all of our identifiers and data, and if there are open-standard communication protocols, that would enable private communication that cannot be snuffed by a centralized power.

Where our data should be stored is still something of an open question, and the tricky task of creating open standards is the mission of groups like the W3C Decentralized Identifiers, which are trying to create clear, interoperable rules for peer-to-peer communication just like there are for SMTP and email.

If we own our data, why shouldn't we be able to sell it?

Back to those photos and the AI. The quality of data will improve in a world where we own our data and we sell our data, says Alex McDougall, co-founder of Bicameral Ventures, and an investor in MetaMe.

McDougall compares the current state of data to "Crude oil," and refined SSI-injected data as "Refined oil," which will have greater value.

So what does SSI have to do with the flow of a multimillionaire? In theory, if we own our data and we have the ability to selectively allow services and partners access to our data, then both the quantity and quality of that data improves, and the quality of goods and services improves.

Your self-sovereign AI can book your flight to LA, arrange your car pick-up, set the perfect temperature in the car, and because it knows the last seven restaurants you went to in New York- it knows everything - it can suggest a restaurant you'll enjoy in LA.The only reason this would be possible is that you have chosen to share gobs of personal data, and crucially, you choose to selectively share that data - which can only be used for limited purposes - to specific partners at specific times.

"Uber's AI doesn't need access to all of my data," says Atanda, "It just needs access to the data that's relevant."