How Algorithms Exploit Bias & Other News This Week
#NEWSLETTER | Honing critical thinking skills should be at the top of our AI-readiness todo list. Helping kids identify bias is also mission critical when we look at what's to come. What to know...
We know the score when it comes to digital news… algorithms control what we see, “clickbait” drives publisher revenue at our expense, and discerning what is “true” or “real” is hard.
Unfortunately, with AI hoovering up data and spitting it back out again, the nature of “news,” and discerning its source and veracity will get even dicier.
Unfortunately, overuse of the term “disinformation” hasn’t helped. Its current loose use presumes a consensus on what’s considered a “falsehood,” and that there is some legislated body that serves as arbiter of “truth.” Neither exist, nor should they in a democracy.
The Laptop That Actually Was…
The Hunter Biden laptop story came full circle this week. No matter your party affiliation or political beliefs, or even the nitty gritty detail of the story, it wasn’t the best test of our ability to think critically.
The quest for truth is a journey along a spectrum and the destination is not an absolute. Bias can also more easily creep into our lives if we let our critical thinking muscle atrophy.
How Algorithms Exploit Bias
Of course bias clouding our perspective is nothing new. But algorithms and AI innovation will stretch our ability to think critically much further than we thought possible.
Bias is also more expansive and hard to control than we might think. For example:
Implicit Bias ⤵️
Does even the idea of discussing something make you “feel” a certain way? It’s not intentional, but it is visceral and that is implicit.Sociological Bias ⤵️
Is your “tribe” the MSNBC crew or Fox News bunch? The “me versus not me” is a sociological bias.Group Attribution Bias ⤵️
Of course having grouped people by their cable news (or print) media choices, there is a natural tendency to think then that everyone who subscribes to a given media outlet “thinks the same.” That’s group attribution bias.False Consensus Effect ⤵️
Would you say that “everyone” who watches MSNBC or Fox immediately think the same about a story? That’s the false consensus effect.Confirmation Bias ⤵️
Finally there is confirmation bias…this is how we seek to “confirm” our beliefs with more of the same. And this is where algorithms definitely lend a hand. It’s psychologically uncomfortable to consume any information that contradicts what you’ve already decided is “true.”
Why the lesson here? Well, bias isn’t just one thing, and technology has made us lazy in sorting through the facts.
Your Phone & AI
Apple finally entered into the AI game with its announcement of Apple Intelligence this week. Considering the company’s dominance in hardware, many would argue that it’s not that they were slow, but instead deliberate. Because the integration of AI into iPhones will now change the game. It will also increase the need for all of us to understand the privacy controls on our phones. Love or hate the idea of AI + iPhone, it’s important to be in control.
Watch Out for *Fake* Deepfake Claims
Say what?
Well, yes readers, we’ve come full circle.
Called the “liar’s dividend” this is when public figures call foul on a (true) scandal as cover. And now throw deepfakes into the mix and there is a very real risk that we ignore what we see with our own eyes or hear with our own ears.
It’s more than conceivable. Hunter Biden’s laptop was a small taste of what we should expect going forward. Anything inconvenient can be now denied in sophisticated mind bending ways.
Happy Friday!
Have thoughts? Questions? Be sure to get in touch.