{"id":1067,"date":"2020-04-15T10:40:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2020-04-15T10:40:28","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:40:28","slug":"4-15-20-lee-lisle-algorithmic-accountability-journalistic-investigation-of-computational-power-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/2020\/04\/15\/4-15-20-lee-lisle-algorithmic-accountability-journalistic-investigation-of-computational-power-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"4\/15\/20 – Lee Lisle – Algorithmic Accountability: Journalistic Investigation of Computational Power Structures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diakopoulos\u2019s paper makes the point that AI has a power over\nusers that is not often clearly expressed to the users, even when those\nalgorithms have massive amounts of power over users\u2019 lives. The author then\npoints out four different ways algorithms have power over users:\nprioritization, classification, association, and filtering. After a brief description\nof each, the author then speaks about how transparency is key to the balancing\nof these powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then a series of AI implementations were discussed and\nshowed how they exerted some amount of power without informing the user. The author\nused autocompletions on Google & Bing, autocorrections on iPhone, political\nemails, price discrimination, and stock trading as examples. The author then\nuses interviews in order to gain insight in how journalists better understand\nAIs and write stories on them. This is a form of accountability, and\njournalists use this information to allow users to understand the technology\naround them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I\nthought this paper brought up a good point that was seen in other readings this\nweek: even if the user is given agency over the final decision, the AI biases\nthem towards a particular set of actions. Even if the weaknesses of the AI are\nunderstood, like in the Bansal et al. paper on updates, the participant is\nstill biased from the actions and recommendations of the AI. This power, when\ncombined with the effect it can have on peoples\u2019 lives, can greatly change the\ncourse of lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               The\nauthor also makes a point that interviews with designers is a form of\nreverse-engineering. I had not thought of it in this way before, so it was an\ninteresting insight into journalism. Furthermore, the idea that AIs are black\nboxes, but their inputs and outputs can be manipulated such that the interior\nworkings can be better understood was another thing I hadn\u2019t thought of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I was\nactually aware of most of the cases the author presented as ways of algorithms\nexerting power. I have used different computers and safe modes on browsers in\nthe past to ensure I was getting the best deal in travel or hotels before, for\nexample. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Lastly,\nI thought the idea of journalists having to uncover these AI (potential)\nmalpractices was an interesting quandary. Once they do this, they must publish\na story, but then most people will likely not hear about it. There\u2019s an\ninteresting problem here of how to warn people about potential red flags in\nalgorithms that I felt the paper didn\u2019t discuss well enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Are there any specific algorithms that have\nbiased you in the past? How did they? Was it a net positive, or net negative\nresult? What type of algorithmic power did it exert?<\/li>
  2. Which of the four types of algorithmic power is\nthe most serious, in your opinion? Which is the least?<\/li>
  3. Did any of the cases surprise you? Do they\nchange how you may use technology in the future?<\/li>
  4. What ways can the users abuse the AI systems?<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary Diakopoulos\u2019s paper makes the point that AI has a power over users that is not often clearly expressed to the users, even when those algorithms have massive amounts of power over users\u2019 lives. The author then points out four different ways algorithms have power over users: prioritization, classification, association, and filtering. After a brief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[99,98],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-accountability","tag-class13"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/cs6724s20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}