The conversation seems to have moved from “this is going to change everything” to “how should we regulate it” in record time, but what I’ve found frustrating is how little attention has been paid to the fundamental, if perhaps a bit less exciting, question of what form these generative AI agents might take in our lives. Who will they work for, their corporate owners, or …us? Who controls the data they interact with — the consumer, or, as has been the case over the past 20 years — the corporate entity?

But instead of attempting to control AI through reams of impossible-to-interpret pages of regulation directed at particular companies, I humbly suggest we should focus on regulating the core resource all AI companies need to function: Our personal data.