The Artificial Intelligence Database
Special Series
The Creepy TikTok Algorithm Doesn’t Know You
The uncanny, addictive AI has turned math into a mystical force—and flattened humanity into a series of codes.
By Eleanor Cummins
Meta Adverse
TikTok’s Next Big Move? To Become Facebook
ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok and Douyin, has global ambitions to challenge Meta’s universe.
By Chris Stokel-Walker
Ideas
An Ethics Bounty System Could Help Clean Up the Web
Tech companies just need to adapt the bug bounty system they already use to detect vulnerabilities in code.
By Jonathan Cohn
Age estimation
This AI Predicts How Old Children Are. Can It Keep Them Safe?
Yoti’s tech may be enticing for Big Tech companies: It works out if you’re under or over 13, the age most social media platforms require to create an account.
By Matt Burgess
Social Media
Facebook Quietly Makes a Big Admission
The company’s new approach to political content acknowledges that engagement isn’t always the best way to measure what users value.
By Gilad Edelman
log off
Social Media Algorithms Are Controlling How I Grieve
What happens to a loved one's account after they pass—and how does their digital afterlife affect the ones who survive them?
By Steven Blum
Cash Reward
Twitter's Photo-Cropping Algorithm Favors Young, Thin Females
The findings emerged from an unusual contest to identify unfairness in algorithms, similar to hunts for security bugs.
By Will Knight
Misogyny
This New Way to Train AI Could Curb Online Harassment
Misogyny on the internet too often slips through the filters of content moderators. A new method hopes to inject more nuance into the process.
By Khari Johnson
Opinion
The World Needs Deepfake Experts to Stem This Chaos
A crisis over a suspicious confession video in Myanmar underscores why we need a coordinated response to discern fact from fiction.
By Sam Gregory
Oops
Don't End Up on This Artificial Intelligence Hall of Shame
A list of incidents that caused, or nearly caused, harm aims to prompt developers to think more carefully about the tech they create.
By Tom Simonite
Bad Look
Deepfake Maps Could Really Mess With Your Sense of the World
Researchers applied AI techniques to make portions of Seattle look more like Beijing. Such imagery could mislead governments or spread misinformation online.
By Will Knight
Bad Influence
AI Can Write Disinformation Now—and Dupe Human Readers
Georgetown researchers used text generator GPT-3 to write misleading tweets about climate change and foreign affairs. People found the posts persuasive.
By Will Knight
media
These Ex-Journalists Are Using AI to Catch Online Defamation
CaliberAI wants to help overstretched newsrooms with a tool that’s like spell-check for libel. But its potential uses go far beyond traditional media.
By Gilad Edelman
Overlooked
Twitter's Photo Crop Algorithm Favors White Faces and Women
A study of 10,000 images found bias in what the system chooses to highlight. Twitter has stopped using it on mobile, and will consider ditching it on the web.
By Khari Johnson
Algorithms
Europe's Proposed Limits on AI Would Have Global Consequences
The EU released draft laws that would regulate facial recognition and uses of algorithms. If it passes, the policy will impact companies in the US and China.
By Will Knight
Opinion
Hackers Used to Be Humans. Soon, AIs Will Hack Humanity
Like crafty genies, AIs will grant our wishes and then hack them, exploiting our social, political, and economic systems like never before.
By Bruce Schneier
Ideas
Sorry, but ‘I Missed the Meeting’ Is No Longer an Excuse
AI audio transcription is getting smarter—and it's taking notes on your work meetings.
By Clive Thompson
Backchannel
I Called Off My Wedding. The Internet Will Never Forget
In 2019, I made a painful decision. But to the algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps, I'm forever getting married.
By Lauren Goode
Checkmate
Why a YouTube Chat About Chess Got Flagged for Hate Speech
AI programs that analyze language have difficulty gauging context. Words such as “black,” “white,” and “attack" can have different meanings.
By Will Knight
Lost in Translation
How Censorship Can Influence Artificial Intelligence
A study finds that algorithms learn to associate words with other words. “Democracy” can equal “stability”—or “chaos.”
By Will Knight