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Open to Debate

Innovation or Intrusion: The Big Data Debate

Open to Debate

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Every click, search, and online purchase feeds the data economy, driving AI, global business, and even political campaigns. But with risks growing in the private and public spheres, is Big Data advancing society or undermining its foundations? Supporters argue Big Data powers innovation by fueling breakthroughs in medicine, public health, and everyday efficiency. Yet critics warn that it erodes privacy, concentrates power, and threatens democracy. In the age of algorithms and analytics, is Big Data a necessary innovation or a dangerous intrusion?  Arguing "Innovation": Kenneth Cukier, Deputy Executive Editor at The Economist   Arguing "Intrusion": Carissa Véliz, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford  Xenia Wickett, Geopolitical strategist, moderator at Wickett Advisory, and Trustee of Transparency International UK, is the guest moderator.  Join the conversation on our Substack—share your perspective on this episode and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for curated insights from our debaters, moderators, and staff. Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and TikTok to stay connected with our mission and ongoing debates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Idle money sits in your current account, stuck repeating the same tired tune, never hitting

0:07.1

play on its potential.

0:11.5

But thanks to Monzo's Savings Challenge, busy monies in the studio, laying down a little

0:16.1

extra every day so your balance sounds sweeter week after week.

0:21.6

Monzo, the bank that gets your money moving.

0:24.9

UK residents staged 18 plus, one entry per person, Monzo personal account required, challenge

0:28.7

and prize teas and Cs apply.

0:32.1

This is open to debate. I'm John Donvan. Hi everybody.

0:35.0

I don't think it's a stretch to admit that most of us feel we are increasingly reliant on electronic devices surrounding us and also listening to us. I'm talking about our phones and smart speakers like Alexa and others. The technology, however, is also increasingly reliant on us for all of that information that it gathers as we walk and shop and search

0:56.5

online. It funds the internet. It fuels the data-driven economy. It even powers AI, especially

1:02.3

powers AI. We wanted to have a debate that gets to the heart of the trade-off involved that we make

1:07.3

every day. All of the innovations and benefits of the data being collected on us by so-called

1:11.9

big data, are those innovations and benefits worth what we give up in terms of our privacy?

1:18.1

Today I'm handing off the range to Zena Wicked. She's a global strategist and runs her own executive

1:22.3

coaching firm, Wicked Advisory. Zenya will be moderating this one. It's a really fun and thought-provoking conversation.

1:29.0

And so, here is Zena. This is open to debate, and I'm Zania Wicitt. Welcome to our discussion on big data.

1:35.8

Today, we're asking, is the mass collection of data a dangerous intrusion or necessary innovation?

1:42.3

I want to start with a small confession.

1:44.9

Like most people, I live very comfortably with the benefits of data.

1:49.3

I like that my phone predicts traffic.

1:51.6

I like that my bank spots forward before I do.

1:54.8

And I like that medicine is slowly moving from waiting until you feel ill

...

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