Business Pill · You can only agree to what you know
Consent means agreeing before something is recorded, and it only counts when people know what they are agreeing to. You can only agree to what you can see.
A short explainer video, under a minute. The gym member and the stranger are an illustration.
At a glance
What Consent Is
Agreeing before it is recorded is called consent. The video adds the condition that makes it count: people have to know what they agree to.
Two Cameras
The video sets a visible camera beside a hidden one.
Why It Matters
The video turns this into one question: who here knows they are being recorded?
Picture a woman changing in a gym locker room, with a man nearby wearing glasses that hold a tiny camera.
She never agreed to this, and she did not even know it was happening. She cannot agree to what she cannot see.
What Consent Is
Agreeing before it is recorded is called consent. The video adds the condition that makes it count: people have to know what they agree to.
The board puts it in one line: agreeing, knowing what you agree to.
Two Cameras
The video sets a visible camera beside a hidden one. A visible camera lets you choose to stay or leave. A hidden one takes the choice away.
On the board, the visible camera comes with a sign, a choice to stay or leave, and consent that is possible. The hidden one has nothing to tell you, no choice, and consent that is missing.
The Idea on One Board
Two cameras
A visible camera
You know
there is a sign
You can choose
stay or leave
Consent
possible
A hidden camera
You know
nothing tells you
You can choose
no choice
Consent
missing
The honest limit
✓ You cannot ask everyone
✓ So a rule steps in
The Honest Limit
In a public place you cannot ask everyone. The video’s answer is that a rule has to step in.
Consent works where people can be asked, and a rule covers the places where they cannot.
Why It Matters
The video turns this into one question: who here knows they are being recorded?
Its takeaway is short. You can only agree to what you can see, so say it before you record.
The key insight: You can only agree to what you can see. So say it before you record.
A government has just proposed acting where people gather. Our report on Norway’s proposal says, as NTB and NRK report it, that Norway wants a temporary ban on AI glasses in selected public places, not a total ban, with a bill to the Storting as soon as possible. NRK cites schools, hospitals, shopping centres and parks as examples and quotes Micaelsen as saying, in our translation, “We do not want a society where people are worried about being surveilled.”
The Business Engineer Lens
Where this idea sits in the Business Engineer library:
The Business Engineer framework maps where each part of the AI stack sits and who holds the leverage. These pills are short lessons from the same library.
The Notification Clock(lesson unlocks soon) contrasts with Consent. Consent tells people before something happens to them; the notification clock tells them after a flaw is found.
Data Flywheel(lesson unlocks soon) builds on Consent. The flywheel turns only if the company has the right to use the usage data; consent asks whether people knew what they agreed to.
Consent contrasts with One-Sided Terms(lesson unlocks soon). Consent needs people to know what they agree to; one-sided terms let one side change the rules after agreement.
Unlearning(lesson unlocks soon) contrasts with Consent. Consent is asked before something is recorded; unlearning tries to take data back out after it was trained in.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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