Ted Talk Summary

TedTalknotes9-10.docx

10 September 2018

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Zeynep Tufekci TED Talk

“We’re building a dystopia just to make people click on ads”

Keywords from first half

· persuasion architecture

· Algorithms

· Dark posts

· Data brokers

FIRST HALF OF TALK

Profiling people – individual profiles

· AI is tailor-making “ads” for individual

Algorithms – Picking up on human behaviors

· No one (no person) understands the algorithms. But artificial intelligence does, i.e., Facebook and Google

Like taking a cross-section of the brain, and no one knows what she is thinking.

· Only the AI (artificial intelligence) knows.

Artificial Intelligence means

· Internet and technology

· Means that computers can use algorithms and “big data” to learn about an individual

· Facebook and Google, examples of using “persuasion architecture”

Her example of “selling plane tickets to Las Vegas”

· Mania and bipolar people

SECOND HALF OF TALK

“Dark posts”

· Targeting people

· They are not doing public posts; individualized

Good persuasion architecture makes a company successful

· Two parts: Facebook has it; a company can buy it.

Information/news is individualized so that people don’t have the same knowledge or news.

Persuades your political views; who to vote for or not.

· They are not considering your opinion; they are trying to give you an opinion

· Because of a lack of transparency, voters don’t know who are persuading them

Facebook algorithms does not show posts in time order but algorithms selecting which ones to see

· Posts are affecting you emotionally

Reforming the internet/technology?

· We need to take control of the technology, so that information is transparent.

· We need to re-structure the “business model.”

· We should restrict algorithms. For example, not apply algorithms to politicians