I think big data companies only like good news. So I think they're just hoping that they don't get sued, essentially.

I think big data companies only like good news. So I think they're just hoping that they don't get sued, essentially.

My fantasy is that there is a new regulatory body that is in charge of algorithmic auditing.

There are lots of different ways that algorithms can go wrong, and what we have now is a system in which we assume because it's shiny new technology with a mathematical aura that it's perfect and it doesn't require further vetting. Of course, we never have that assumption with other kinds of technology.

For whatever reason, I have never separated the technical from the ethical.

When people are not given an option by some secret scoring system, it's very hard to complain, so they often don't even know that they've been victimized.

The Facebook algorithm designers chose to let us see what our friends are talking about. They chose to show us, in some sense, more of the same. And that is the design decision that they could have decided differently. They could have said, "We're going to show you stuff that you've probably never seen before." I think they probably optimized their algorithm to make the most amount of money, and that probably meant showing people stuff that they already sort of agreed with, or were more likely to agree with.