Is This AI Identity Platform the Key to Stopping Digital Fraud?

Digital fraud. It’s not just lost money on a spreadsheet, it robs actual families of opportunity. Grandparents fleeced of their life savings, families bankrupted by identity theft, small businesses ruined by scams. We read the news and perhaps personally feel their impact. It starts as that insidious worry – am I going to be the one?

IDI's partnership with Ping Identity, announced just yesterday, claims to offer a solution: an AI-powered identity platform integrated with PingOne DaVinci. The promise? Frictionless customer experiences and smarter, faster decisions for businesses when it comes to verifying identities and managing risk. Sounds great, doesn't it? Is it really the magic bullet we’ve all been looking for? Or just another shiny object in our fight against a very advanced, determined and resourced opponent.

Will AI Discriminate Against Real People?

AI is great but it’s only as good as the data that it’s trained on. And if we’re all being honest, data can be a pretty prejudicial thing. What’s the result when the same algorithms that can be helpful in detecting cases of fraud end up disproportionately flagging entire demographics? Might a person be denied a loan or a job because an AI system had categorized them as “risky”? What if that judgment was made based on bad data?

Think about it. Where redlining used to take the form of a physical map, it might now be encoded into an algorithm. That's terrifying.

And although IDI and Ping Identity pretend that a “frictionless customer experience” is a good thing, who gets to decide what’s “frictionless”? Is it only frictionless for the corporation, who benefits by being able to onboard customers faster and get them hooked—and thus more profitable—sooner. Is it really frictionless for the user? They would still have to go through the hoops to validate their identity, particularly if they don’t match the AI’s limited understanding of what is “normal.”

This goes way beyond convenience — this is about equitable access and making sure AI doesn’t exacerbate biases that already exist in our systems.

Whose Data Is It Anyway?

At the core of IDI’s technology is its “people-based” identity graph. That’s code for saying they’re gathering a ton of information. And though the announced aim is to eradicate fraud, it poses major concerns for privacy and surveillance. How secure is this data? Who has access to it? And then what if it falls into the wrong hands?

We have witnessed the cataclysmic downfall of several data breaches— so needlessly avoidable yet seemingly routine. Equifax, Target, Yahoo – the saga continues. Can we honestly believe that this new AI identity platform will be bug free and hack proof? What protections can we be sure are in place made sure our personal information won’t be misused or divulged.

Even if the data is safe, there’s the issue of consent. Are users even conscious of the idea that their data is being tracked and utilized en masse? Are they provided a realistic way to opt out of their data being sold? Or do we just have to take it on faith that these companies will always do the right thing and look out for us?

IDI prides itself on being a company focused on regulatory compliance. While compliance may be the floor, it should not be the ceiling. What we really need is true transparency and user control over our data—not token gestures that pay fealty to the letter of the law.

Local Businesses: Collateral Damage?

The discussion tends to get taken to the macro level, but what about the small and independent businesses right under our noses in our own communities? Will this new technology be accessible and affordable to them? Will it lead to a two-tiered system? Big companies would be able to use the best fraud prevention tools on the market, but small businesses may still be left vulnerable.

Think about the mom-and-pop bakery on the corner, just trying to survive against big-box competitors. They do not have the resources to make strategic long-term investments in sophisticated new AI-enabled identity platforms. Many are more low-tech and old school—they depend on trust and personal relationships with their customers. As fraud continues to rise, they are more at risk than ever before.

This is more than keeping businesses safe. It’s about keeping our communities secure. Local businesses are the heart and soul of our communities. They generate good-paying jobs, stimulate local economic activity and investment, and help create the walkable, beautiful, vibrant communities that attract talent to our towns and cities. If they’re run out of business by fraud, we all lose.

So, as much as the IDI and Ping Identity partnership is encouraging, let’s not go overboard just yet. Let's ask the tough questions. Let's demand transparency and accountability. And let's make sure that the fight against digital fraud doesn't come at the expense of individual rights, equitable access, and the vitality of our local communities. Because in the end, the human toll of a runaway technology is a cost we simply cannot accept.