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Apple Watch “Black Box” Reduces the Transparency of Collected Data
The Verge revealed that data from the Apple Watch may not be reliable in the scientific environment. JP Onnela, a professor at the TH School of Public Health. Chan from Harvard University claims that sudden changes in the device’s algorithm can be responsible for changes in the data. According to Onnela, the main problem is the lack of transparency in Apple’s software. So far, it does not make the data available in its total integrity to developers. He further explains “These algorithms can be called black boxes – there’s no transparency. So it’s impossible to know what’s in them.” The recent interest in commercially available products comes as part of a collaboration with the department of neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He knew that there were sometimes data issues with those products. He and His team wanted to check how severe they were before getting started.
Onnela tested a set of daily data collected by the Apple Watch that was exported twice on April 15th, 2021. Since the data was for the same period, he was expecting the info to be almost identical. But, confirming his biggest concerns, the alteration made to the way that Apple Watch interprets the data also affected the data already stored.
The Verge revealed that data from the Apple Watch may not be reliable in the scientific environment. JP Onnela, a professor at the TH School of Public Health. Chan from Harvard University claims that sudden changes in the device’s algorithm can be responsible for changes in the data. According to Onnela, the main problem is the lack of transparency in Apple’s software. So far, it does not make the data available in its total integrity to developers. He further explains “These algorithms can be called black boxes – there’s no transparency. So it’s impossible to know what’s in them.” The recent interest in commercially available products comes as part of a collaboration with the department of neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He knew that there were sometimes data issues with those products. He and His team wanted to check how severe they were before getting started.
Onnela tested a set of daily data collected by the Apple Watch that was exported twice on April 15th, 2021. Since the data was for the same period, he was expecting the info to be almost identical. But, confirming his biggest concerns, the alteration made to the way that Apple Watch interprets the data also affected the data already stored.
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