From NASA to Data Independence: Wes Chaar on AI, Algorithms, and the Fight for Digital Freedom

Before AI powered your news feed, optimized your ads, or predicted your next purchase, Wes Chaar was building intelligent systems to guide spacecraft through deep space. In this episode of Entrepreneur | Authorities, Wes shares how his career began in aerospace engineering, introducing machine learning and adaptive navigation systems into space missions in the late 1990s. He explains how those same predictive tools later transformed industries like airlines, retail, advertising, and private equity. Along the way, he experienced an “aha” moment that led him to question whether the systems designed to optimize business were beginning to manipulate human behavior. That turning point inspired his book Data Independence, where he proposes a new framework built on consent, control, and currency. In this conversation, Wes breaks down why privacy and freedom are inseparable, why AI is more like the printing press than the calculator, and what happens if citizens do not reclaim ownership of their data. This is a wide-ranging discussion about innovation, responsibility, and the future of the AI economy.