User data land grab is costing companies far more than they realize — in diminishing data value and in the brand trust they are quietly destroying, while racing to seize consumer data without consent or compensation. The Real Price of the Data Land Grab — and Why It Will Backfire Across industries, companies are spending hundreds of millions to lock in first-party data assets through mergers, acquisitions, and platform capture — treating data as the "new oil." But NVIDIA's Jensen Huang has noted that AI technology's cost drops 100,000 times every ten years, and that within a decade, AI-generated synthetic data will dwarf human-generated data. Joanne Z. Tan points out here that the companies acquiring today's data at premium prices are, in many cases, paying real diamond prices for what will soon be worth far less. Scholars Ulises Mejias and Nick Couldry, in their book "Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech", frame this extraction as a power imbalance in which personal data becomes raw material for corporate profit — without the knowledge or consent of the people generating it. During colonialism, at least, those dispossessed knew what was being taken. Today, most consumers have no way of knowing. AI Is Getting Smarter — and It Rewards Trust, Not Extraction AI search systems are beginning to synthesize trust indicators — customer reviews, media sentiment, authoritative publications, and executive reputation — into signals that may soon function as "trust scores" determining brand visibility and recommendation outcomes. Authentic authority, built through consistent thought leadership, is now the currency AI systems trust most. Joanne Z. Tan illustrates with a case study of The Ivy Group to show how a brand with few Google reviews, built on genuine thought leadership, was ranked #1 by ChatGPT among fierce competitors — proof that AI is already outsmarting unethical data players. The most valuable data asset any company can hold is not what it seized — it is the trust that causes customers to willingly share their data, advocate for the brand, and create the authentic content ecosystem that AI systems reward. Read the full article Watch it as a 13-min video Explore brand strategy and AI experience design by visiting our websites: 10plusbrand.com aixd.world 10plusprofile.com Contact us Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter About the Author, Joanne Z. Tan Joanne Z. Tan is the Founder and CEO of 10 Plus Brand, Inc. and the creator of AIXD.world — AI Experience Design. A globally recognized brand strategist, thought leadership coach, and startup mentor based in Silicon Valley, Joanne works with founders, CEOs, and C-suite executives to build brands that lead markets, command premium positioning, and endure. She is known for this principle: "User experience is brand experience, and brand experience determines enterprise destiny." © Joanne Z. Tan, 2026. All rights reserved.