Every aspect of our life today can be guided by artificial intelligence algorithms–from choosing what route to take for your morning commute, what music you listen to, what products you are offered on your phone, whom to take on a date, to complex legal and judicial matters.
Big tech companies like Google and Facebook use AI to obtain insights on their customers from the massive trove of detailed customer data. This allows them to monetize users’ collective preferences through practices such as micro-targeting, a strategy used by advertisers to narrowly target specific sets of users. Many people now trust platforms and algorithms more than their own governments or even advice from a human.
In the past, technology experts have worried about a “digital divide” between those who could access computers and the internet and those who could not. Households with less access to digital technologies are at a disadvantage in their ability to earn money and accumulate skills. But, as digital devices proliferate, the divide is no longer just about access. It is how people deal with information overload and the plethora of algorithmic decisions that permeate every aspect of their lives.
The savvier users are navigating away from devices and becoming aware about how algorithms affect their lives. Meanwhile, consumers who have less information are relying even more on algorithms to guide their decisions.
The main reason for the new digital divide is that so few people understand how algorithms work. For a majority of users, algorithms are seen as a total mystery. It works like this. AI algorithms take in data, fit them to a mathematical model and put out a prediction, ranging from what songs you might enjoy to how many years someone should spend in jail. These models are developed and tweaked based on past data and the success of previous models.
Researchers have long been concerned about algorithmic fairness. For instance, Amazon’s AI-based recruiting tool turned out to dismiss female candidates. Other studies have shown that judicial algorithms are racially biased, sentencing poor black defendants for longer than others. Ben Bernanke, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, was initially denied a mortgage refinance by an automated system.
AI researchers have pushed for algorithms that are fair, accountable, and transparent, as well as interpretable, meaning that they should arrive at their decisions through processes that humans can understand and trust. While algorithms influence so much of people’s lives, only a tiny fraction of people are sophisticated enough to fully understand how algorithms affect their life.
A November 2018 report from the Pew Research Center found that a broad majority of the public had significant concerns about the use of algorithms for particular uses. It found that 66% thought it would not be fair for algorithms to calculate personal finance scores, while 57% said the same about automated résumé screening. About 74% of Facebook’s users said in a survey that they were not aware of how the platform characterizes their personal interests.
The new digital literacy is not using a computer or being on the internet, but understanding and evaluating the consequences of an always-plugged-in lifestyle. This lifestyle has a meaningful impact on how people interact with others; on their ability to pay attention to new information; and on the complexity of their decision-making processes.
The question is – what will the measurable harms be for those on the wrong side of the digital divide?
Hi John, how was school today?
Dad, you can read all about it on my blog