Younger consumers more likely to take action on data privacy

A new study reveals that 42 percent of consumers aged 18-24 have inquired about the personal data organizations have about them, seven times more than consumers aged 75 or older (six percent).

The Cisco 2023 Consumer Privacy Survey also shows people are concerned about their privacy in regard to AI. 60 percent of consumers say they've lost trust in organizations due to their AI use.

But despite this, only half of regular generative AI users say they are refraining from entering personal or confidential information into Gen AI applications. Indeed, 48 percent of survey respondents agree that AI can be useful in improving their lives. In addition 54 percent say they are willing to share their anonymized personal data to help improve AI products and decision-making.

"The world is watching how companies will approach AI in a responsible way," says Dev Stahlkopf, Cisco executive vice president and chief legal officer. "For Cisco, this means keeping a keen focus on respecting privacy and human rights as we incorporate AI technology."

The percentage of consumers requesting data deletions or changes has risen to 19 percent, up from 14 percent last year. Again, this is correlated with age, 32 percent of consumers aged 18-24 make data deletion or change requests compared to only four percent of older consumers.

Public awareness of privacy laws continues to be relatively low though, with 46 percent of respondents aware of their country's privacy law. Those who are aware of the law are more likely to feel they can adequately protect their data. Only 40 percent of those unaware of their country's law feel they can protect their data compared to 74 percent of those who are aware of it.

People are looking to governments to act, with 50 percent of respondents saying that national or local government should have the primary role in protecting data, whereas 21 percent say private companies should be primarily responsible.

"As governments pass laws and companies seek to build trust, consumers must also take action and use technology responsibly to protect their own privacy," says Harvey Jang, Cisco vice president, deputy general counsel and chief privacy officer.

You can get the full report from the Cisco site.

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