James Bridle’s Something is wrong on the internet: I think I had a Dell laptop at 13 years old and used Facebook all the time… I remember when there were no ads on Youtube and Facebook had only ‘like’ and ‘become a fan’. Not that long ago I actually looked back through my Facebook timeline with cringe and awe. I have definitely brought up my concerns with content aimed at kids on YouTube in the recent past. It never before occurred to me how easy it is to go from a verified page to a non-verified page with autoplay on. What the heck is going on with these ‘finger family’ videos!? I don’t recall the corruption of Peppa Pig, but I do remember Spiderman Elsa… I agree that it’s not about what teenagers can or can’t handle, nor about trolls, it’s about very young impressionable minds (babies/toddlers) being traumatized by content that targets them on the internet.
Memorable Quotes: 1) “I don’t even have kids and right now I just want to burn the whole thing down.” 2) “It’s not about trolls, but about a kind of violence inherent in the combination of digital systems and capitalist incentives.” 3) “This is a deeply dark time, in which the structures we have built to sustain ourselves are being used against us — all of us — in systematic and automated ways.”
Rachel Metz’ There’s a new obstacle to landing a job after college: Getting approved by AI: This is insane! I’ve never heard of HireVue (an AI gatekeeper for entry level jobs)… Although I am horrified, I can also see how this could be convenient for employers who have to choose from a large applicant pool to fill one job position. The problem is that I highly doubt a computer can detect “empathy” or a “willingness to learn” and I think raising a laptop camera to be eye-level is ridiculous. When it comes to an AI testing for confident or negative language I’d probably strike out on both fronts… but that shouldn’t mean that I’m a bad employee! I didn’t know that there was an Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). I think the EPIC asking the FTC to investigate HireVue’s algorithm is futile; then again, the FTC did look into TikTok.
Jia Tolentino’s How TikTok Holds our Attention: Am I the only one who thinks it’s shady that nobody who was affiliated with TikTok (which Tolentino got in touch with) seemed to know anything about TikTok?! Also, users not seeing a whole lot of the Hong Kong protests through this one particular social media is super sketchy… I actually did hear about what’s happening to the Uighurs not too long ago… It is strange to me that all it takes to have a chance for a record deal is to have a sound bite which gets popular on the app (not a full length song), but I do like Old Town Road. I mean how can you not? It was such a huge phenomenon! That said, I will never understand why young girls flock towards Jacob Sartorius or Jake and Logan Paul. This guy, Zhang Yiming, is giving me Chris Wiley vibes… How do these guys do these things so young?!
Rachel Thomas’ The problem with metrics is a big problem for AI: I don’t think I’ve had an algorithm grade my essays, but I do think some of my school papers have been put into an algorithm to test for plagiarism. This article reminds me a lot of Jill Walker Rettberg’s and Cathy O’Neill’s TED talks. Of course length and sophisticated words are all it takes to game an essay grading algorithm… It’s depressing that the actual content doesn’t matter all that much. Unfortunately, I think we’re living in a time where people don’t truly understand statistics. I watch stuff on YouTube all the time, but that doesn’t always cause me to feel happy —and even if some of it did, correlation does not equal causation. I have seen some white supremacist channels come down, but yeah, Youtube/Google has a problem with letting that crap infiltrate (I’m being reminded of ‘Sad by Design’ now).
Eric Meyer’s Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty: I’m so heartbroken! I personally try to avoid these ‘look back’ algorithms like the plague… but I am a sucker for Spotify end-of-the-year playlists. Of course Facebook doesn’t really care about asking any of us for permission. It’s already not asking us how much of our privacy we want… I think we all know by now that Mark Zuckerberg’s empathy level is non-existent.