Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms

FEATURING ROBERT ELLIOTT SMITH – The rapid rise of digital technology and the Internet has changed our political landscape, how we communicate with our peers, and how we communicate to the whole world. One of the major lessons of the 2016 elections was just how useful the Internet was to those who wanted to hack our electoral systems.

Fake news and polarizing memes skewed voting patterns and hate flourished online. Today companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are under fire from those who are outraged at the proliferation of fake news and hate-groups, while right wing extremists claim they are biased against conservatives.

My next guest says it’s the algorithms these tech platforms use that are the problem.

Robert Elliott Smith, an expert in Artificial Intelligence who has worked on projects for Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and more. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. His new book is called Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All.

*This segment was originally broadcast on September 27, 2019.