With The White House launching a new effort to reduce the risks of AI, Decluttr has analyzed which of the most popular AI apps are most likely to be restricted based on The White House guidelines to see if they track any of the following:
- disability-related data
- genomic data
- biometric data
- behavioral data
- geolocation data
- data related to interaction with the criminal justice system
- relationship history
- legal status such as custody and divorce information
- home, work, or school environmental data
From there, we have determined the likelihood of the app being restricted or banned.
The Top 10 AI Apps Most Likely To Be Restricted
| Rank | App Name | Disability-related data | Genomic data | Biometric data | Behaviourdal data | Gelocation data | Interaction with the criminal justice system | Relationship history | Legal status | Home/work/school data |
| 1 | Google Assistant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2 | Amazon Alexa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 3 | ELSA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 4 | eBay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| 5 | Hopper | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| 6 | Siri | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| 7 | Socratic – AI Educational App | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| 8 | Youper – AI Mental Health Support | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| 9 | Hound – Natural Voice AI Assistance | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| 10 | Face App – AI Selfie Editing App | Yes | Yes |
Google Assistant Is Most Likely To Be Banned According To White House Restrictions
The virtual assistant software, Google Assistant, is the most likely to be banned according to The White House restrictions. It is one of the biggest offenders for collecting and sharing your data, including health, biometric, behavioral, geolocation, and much more.
While it’s not obvious, they may be tracking data related to interaction with the criminal justice system, relationship history, legal status such as custody and divorce information through applications such as audio, web browsing history and financial information.
To this end, automated systems that collect, use, share, or store data related to these sensitive domains should meet additional expectations, according to The White House.
Amazon Alexa Comes In 2nd For AI Apps That Could Be Banned By The White House
Personalized virtual assistant Amazon Alexa ranks next on the list, with the platform tracking relationship history, home, work, or school environmental data and biometric, behavioral, and geolocation data to name a few, which could put individuals at risk of a loss of privacy if the app does not meet White House regulations.
Teaching Tool ELSA Could Also Be Banned In The Future
In this race to track your data, other top AI giants such as ELSA – the English learning app is also collecting and sharing your behavioral data, legal status, geolocation and more. These apps may have to justify this collection of data in cases where it can be appropriately and meaningfully given in the near future, thanks to The White House regulations.
Liam Howley, Chief Marketing Officer at Decluttr, comments:
“Many apps are now incorporating artificial intelligence into their systems, whether that’s streamlining processes or providing a personalized touch. Because it is advancing at breakneck speeds, regulations haven’t been fully put in place to address the risks around safety and privacy. However, you can still limit how much new AI apps are tracking your data by choosing the ‘ask app not to track’ option when downloading, or by blocking apps from tracking data in your settings.”
