We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads | Zeynep Tufekci

We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says technosociologist Zeynep Tufecki. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information. And the machines aren't even the real threat. What we need to understand is how the powerful might use AI to control us -- and what we can do in response.
Check out more TED Talks: www.ted.com
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.
Follow TED on Twitter: / tedtalks
Like TED on Facebook: / ted
Subscribe to our channel: / ted

[@kaielvin]

The irony is, I finally gave in into watching this talk after KZbin suggested it to me for weeks.

[@AXharoth]

haha

[@zetjet9901]

*O o f*

[@HassleHoffer372]

irony 100

[@garlic-os]

its youtubes cry for help

[@Anabeausoleil]

Same! I’ve been avoiding this video for months

[@4tech69]

A great talk. Unfortunately, most people simply aren't capable of seeing the issue. It's a large part of the reason it works so well.

[@rodrol3385]

She is blaming the algorithm's suggestions instead of people not being responsible enough to think by themselves, and research information, That is the issue, THAT is what you and she cant see, that's the issue, its ironic that you said not being capable to see, because that's what happened to you, BTW preventing algorithm's suggestions(for a more neutral suggestions) are only 3 cliicks away in every settings tag

[@rodrol3385]

It's not fantasy, its common sense, its responsibility sense, if people lack resposibility sense that is the issue, don't blame anything else, and yes, everyone has time for researching at least about the essential, about politics, 5 min a day is more than enough to read 2-3 articles about the same, to corroborate some information, then you can do the same the next day about the same thing, if anyone cares, they have time, if its anyone's fault it's our, not Google's or facebook's, blaming them is just childish, population never did need to research, because media was reliable, now we have to educate people to research info and corroborate info, through different sources, like scientist do, because as media got corrupted, we have to grow up. the real thing here is that people don't really care enough, but I mean both sides, like this girl in the video, and supporters of every candidate, they just see one thing they like or dislike about one candidate, and they already are sided, and since the USA is not doing that bad, people don't really care, if they really did, I assure you they would find time, to research, address problems, and find solutions, it doesn't take up that much time, this is what they do in france for example, but the people are quite oppressed by the government so they are helpless since they are not heard, but the childish rant about politics in usa is just that, childish, when people really have problems they get serious and find solutions

[@Qstandsforred]

Rod Rol - For people to do their own research they would have to be taught most/all of the logical fallacies. A logical fallacy allows one to draw incorrect conclusions from accurate data. "5 min a day is more than enough to read 2-3 articles" And how would they find those articles? Google it?

[@rodrol3385]

you dont understand there is the option to stay away from personalized results???? AAaand most importantly universities, the motor of scientific research have networks together for just researching

[@iUseDemFrapz]

And the speaker provides no evidence for her claims, I'll believe it's an issue when someone shows me proof that it actually is.

[@wintergray6918]

I'm a disabled veteran. I'm reasonably intelligent, from what I can tell. I'm observant almost all the times I want to be, and often find myself noticing things I didn't mean to, so I'm guessing my cognition is subject to distraction, but ultimately functional enough to determine if something is happening in front of me. Being disabled, I have a lot of time on my hands, and an inability to do anything with that time but consume. I hate it, but it's my life now. So I watch KZbin. A lot. And as paranoid as it sounds, I've been watching KZbin watch me right back. Here's what I've noticed... First off, I loathe advertising. I don't watch cable television at all, unless the content finds its way to KZbin, and at that point the ads have been stripped away. If the ads are still present I'll immediately stop the video and find another. I pay for KZbin Red and Google Music as a package, so I can keep advertisements out of both my music and video watching experience. Not completely, of course. That's impossible. But I've done what I can to eliminate ads from my life. I see the methods they use to manipulate, I know I'm vulnerable to them, so I stay away as much as possible. This means my observed (by KZbin) experience with KZbin is based almost entirely on viewing habits of specific subject matter, not what products are likely to sell best on the videos I watch and a calculation of which combination will earn a click. I'm sure KZbin would love that info, but it's never had a chance to gather it on me. I like science shows. KZbin knows this really well, so recommends all kinds of scientific content to me. It's a cornerstone of my viewing habits. These are almost always down in the bottom of the recommendation lists (the part you have to click to see) no matter what else I've been watching. A science show covering anything to do with genetics, the Mars rovers, the elimination of Smallpox, and so many more can pull me out of whatever string of shows I'm currently watching. Remember this, because it comes in to play later. I'm a liberal. No, I'm not gonna get political, but I need you to understand the reference point. I like shows that speak to my viewpoint as much as anyone, though not as much as some. I'm always open to hear a logical side to any discussion, so my political watching habits are left of center. Well, I try to keep them there. But KZbin knows that on some subjects I hold very deep views, so when I see something about that topic, I want to hear how "atrocious" the other side is being while getting my info. I have a viewing bias, and KZbin knows how to exploit it. On those issues, once I click on the first video, the entire first page of recommendations is about that subject, but in a more extreme format, from more radical sources. And I click, because I'm outraged, and I want to commiserate with like-minded people. This is where I first noticed KZbin watching me. I would get to a point where I would be sick of the subject. I didn't want to hear about it anymore. I just wanted to watch something pleasant. At those times I would open the bottom of the recommendations, pick one of the ever present science videos, and away I would go. I'd done this cycle repeatedly whenever I'd get on a political viewing kick. Watch politics, get outraged, turn to other content in disgust. After a while I noticed science shows would start to show up at the bottom of the first page of recommendations, usually about the point I was tired of the subject. KZbin had learned my temperament when it came to specific content, and was able to (mostly) accurately predict when I would need a break. But the predictions always seemed to take a few videos after my anger had subsided to kick in, even if I kept watching the shows. I thought it was a delay, but I also noticed that the videos by that point were even beyond my own political views, taking extreme stances just as radical as anything found on the right. I realized it was a last ditch effort to get me even more riled up, so I would continue watching that subject, that content. It wasn't malicious. KZbin isn't a sentient entity, so IT can't have malice. What it's doing is what it's programmed to do. Make accurate predictions to keep people watching content, and it does that very well. But wait! There's more... In addition to physical disabilities I have mental health issues. I won't go into detail, but depression is a big aspect, and when mixed with other things it can make life challenging. My KZbin consumption reflects these personality aspects as well, and KZbin has learned my patterns. But with the pattern the KZbin algorithm has shown me so far, this is actually problematic. When depressed I watch depressing shows, dark content, things that reflect how I feel about the world. But that's what KZbin recommends more of, and in more extreme forms. Unlike with political content, though, with depressing content it takes me days, sometimes weeks, to even think about watching anything that doesn't reflect my misery. So for days or weeks at a time, KZbin won't recommend any science shows, even below the click. It's ALL dark, and I rarely have enough self control in my darkest moments to turn away and watch anything else. I would always have to make an effort to watch different content, then watch about a day of videos, before KZbin would stop at least occasionally tossing a depressing one up at the top. At first the trend of nothing but depressing content would happen for a few days, and then a science video would pop up. The next time was longer. Then longer. And my life reflected this. My periods of depression would stretch longer, be made deeper, encouraged to be extended. I would get recommendations for sad videos on the very first day I started a downward slide, before I had watched anything at all that day. They would be waiting for me as soon as I logged in to KZbin. Then, because KZbin seemed to have found content that I didn't tire of for up to weeks at a time, it would start recommending them a day or two before I would get depressed. ...BEFORE I WOULD GET DEPRESSED! Sorry, that needed some extra attention. KZbin, by that point, was more than predicting my viewing habits. It could know by my data when I was likely to get depressed days ahead of time. But a reverse effect began. I would be drawn into the dark, depressing videos almost as much as the science ones even before I was in the depths of depression, but once I began watching my mood would default to depression to match the content. At that point, was KZbin making predictions, or was it manipulating my emotional state? I don't know. But it scared me enough to make me notice. Now I'm aware of these things. I make a concentrated effort not to let my emotional state be dictated by anyone but me or the people I love. But just because you know something has a certain amount of control over you, doesn't mean you're in a situation to do something about it. Awareness helps, though, and I'm in a situation unique enough that I can see the effects plainly. Most other people don't have the time to notice things like this, so are being openly manipulated, and completely unaware of how much or where the source of manipulation comes from. So... what have YOU noticed?

[@williamkirschner8216]

Maybe 15 years ago a friend told me he had 400 friends on Facebook , and the whole thing scared me half to death. The very meaning of words suddenly is lost in some evil fog. And it only gets worse from there. My wife and I are not your average folks. Our favorite thing to do is live fully comped for weeks at a time in casinos. Don’t find anyone else doing that at all. Only play slots which are totally set up as mind control. That is what makes it possible to succeed.

[@williamkirschner8216]

I might add I hate and fear this medium so much I have great difficulty learning how to use it. Might never be able to actually correspond. But how do you go on living in the old world. ?

[@HassleHoffer372]

respectfully, nobody is reading all of that

[@theduke5355]

@@HassleHoffer372I did

[@benjaminsmith3645]

I also loathe advertising. I will do anything to avoid them

[@kylec8015]

Whelp, on to the next recommended video!

[@brandenfarbanger3935]

Kyle C most underrated comment

[@t3mpl3guardian]

Now that this video is over, I can't wait to learn how our secret reptilian overlords run Google and Facebook!

[@paskowitz]

People need to understand that the problem here isn't just some Silicon Valley political bias, it's algorithms that are optimized to generate revenue through interaction and viewership regardless of context. Unfortunately that optimization is greatly rewarded by political polarization, which is inherently dependent on engagement.

[@JimGriffOne]

Convincing the left that socialism is an even bigger problem than capitalism is very difficult too.

[@Hakasedess]

That's because you don't know what socialism is, Jim. You can't convince people something is a problem if you don't know what it is.

[@JimGriffOne]

...which was when the expert on Jim arrived on the scene. He explained to Jim that he was suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. What Jim didn't realise was that he was too stupid to realise how stupid he was. Oh how many mistakes Jim had made all his life; how much time he had wasted researching subjects only to know nothing about them in the end. Years worth of life down the drain.

[@Hakasedess]

Believing socialism to, in any way, be worse than capitalism means you don't know what one of them is.

[@JimGriffOne]

...which was when the expert on Jim arrived on the scene for the second time, this time to point out that Jim had a short-term memory problem. Unfortunately, Jim had forgotten that he was suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect and needed reminding of this fact.

[@homewall744]

The main issue she addresses is less about ads and tracking, but the fact that AI systems are correlating this information in ways that even the human programmers/engineers cannot fully grasp. It's truly a type of intelligence that is foreign to our thinking.

[@a.garcia9815]

She’s right on all points. A few weeks after the 2016 elections, I deleted my Facebook profile. They don’t make that easy for you either. Searching within Facebook for “delete account” will only show you the link to “deactivate” which is not the same action. Ironically, searching Google is the only thing that brought me to Facebook’s “Delete Account” page. During the process, I was faced many times with pop ups asking me if I am sure that I want to delete my account and suggesting that I consider deactivating instead so that I may come back later without having lost all of my likes, photos, posts, and friends. That made me even more determined to choose deletion. I recently have done the same with Twitter as well. Hmmm.... what’s next?

[@stpidstuff]

Google. Delete that account, then delete your Reddit account (if you have one,) next, delete your Microsoft account. You know what? Just go completely offline. Delete any onlime thing you own so companies can't track you. Go off the map. Build a small hut in the middle of the woods where nobody but you knows where it is and never come back.

[@ashlynerickson90]

@@stpidstuff That was quite some snowball that build up there XD I love it! Yes, Google and so many others track an individual. I have found Duck Duck Go as a search engine to be quite reasonable :)

[@MujoNovak]

@@stpidstuff u totaly missed the point

[@stpidstuff]

@@MujoNovak bro I posted that like a year ago my viewpoints have changed since

[@holdmybeer]

The ads won't work on me. Im too poor to buy things hahahaha

[@sumitshresth]

they are not just meant to sell you stuffs but sell u idea. even a poorest of poor can afford to vote coz its the boon of democracy

[@Ruthavecflute]

That maybe true, but are you too poor to vote?

[@Magdra]

I feel ya man; I'd love to buy all the crap that is shoved in my face....but no funds to spend

[@jmitterii2]

Same here, or rather I feel poor, so don't spend money so I may save. My goal is always have more money growing in the bank than less. I wonder if everyone felt that way, the economy would make more sense... prices on most things would be realistic instead of inflated by advertisement that would no longer work. The good news, if most people were like me and just felt poor then everyone would belong to a labor union ensuring their wages are maximized. Problem is, everyone thinks they're "middle class"... not rich nor poor... so why not spend.. go into debt, offer the highest price for that house like a bunch of idiots drunk on stupidity.

[@kingofcelts]

You weren't listening fully. It's also the goal to change your Political views etc..

[@RedIria]

This is the most important talk I've ever heard.

[@adfasfuiuiui1056]

Then you must be really dumb.

[@nickcicchese2323]

Would you consider this speech to be informative or persuasive?

[@RedIria]

Both.

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

@@adfasfuiuiui1056 Do you feel better now?

[@laurel5432]

@@SirAntoniousBlock hopefully after 2 years had passed

[@RNorthex]

For those who like tl;dr 17:15 It's a very nice explanation, that in the grand scheme of things, us even say using adblockers will do nothing to fix what these things are capable of. Ever wondered why on TED you don't see the negative comments everyone is talking about? In the near future, it could be youtube sorting out the comments you might want to see to stay on the site or say to incentivise you to write more and more [like I do now] for keeping data on you. Send videos where you're likely to share your thoughts and opinions more likely as opposed to what you might want to see.

[@CyberChrist]

The Ad Nauseam browser plugin is designed to break the algorithms.

[@nickcicchese2323]

Would you consider this speech to be informative or persuasive?

[@CyberChrist]

+Nick Cicchese Neither for me, because I'm well aware of and more or less immune to the problems listed here.

[@user-sw1wq8lh2w]

adblockers aren't the same as tracking blockers. I'd recommend you block both and at a network level.

[@NexGenration99]

CITATION NEEDED!!!!!!!!!

[@kata1261]

"It's like you're never hardcore enough for KZbin" I love it

[@AXharoth]

hahahahahaa

[@elaheh8637]

I am certain that I've been led to this video by youtube algorithm cause it knows me too well. Yet, I find myself having a love/hate relationship with this algorithm. It helps me save time, it helps me find useful contents, it helped me find this beautiful presentation! So... is it my friend? is it an artificial helping hand leading me to my personal growth? or is it a dark puppet master, shaping who I am without me knowing?! I guess I'll never know. of course this is just on the personal level, but even on this limited case study (which is the relationship between me and youtube) it's impossible to know if it's harmless, let alone on a vast scope such as society as a whole.

[@sanjalisnjic7271]

The research proved it that it is harmful. Very harmful.

[@helenanguyen3418]

That is subjective. It could be helpful for a strongminded, critical thinker. But harmful for someone who does not have the capacity, time, energy, or will power to critique, evaluate, and research. Helpful for you, harmful for white supremacists unfortunately. :/

[@randomguy_069]

It is helpful, very helpful. You see, KZbin has ways to remove ads so their model is not aiming to show only ads but to show the best possible videos a user may enjoy. The more you feed your likings and dislikes more personalized recommendations you get, I have been introduced to many awesome channels due to this algorithm and enjoyed listening to them, so, I don't think that KZbin is harmful because it helped me to find good channels to watch.

[@adiasartes]

It's rather funny that I browsed the boots she's using a couple of weeks ago. Now I wonder if youtube suggested this TED talk because of the theme or because of the boots :D

[@NIPSZ]

Dope comment

[@mattizzle81]

I've seen youtube ads about something that my dad was talking about in an email at one time related to his work. The ads popped up just during a couple weeks after I read that email and then stopped. It was very specific. It was quite impressive that google mines my emails like that.

[@peterskove3476]

Ana Dias that is funny, and I found her to be pretty enough to be distracting...hmmm. You tube’s algorithm for music is an awesome use of this, I love it

[@resurrectionx5952]

You getting these sincronicities often?

[@nickwilliams8302]

This woman is brilliant and she has hit the nail right on the head.

[@LJK77777]

Bravo!!! Very good description of very disturbing problems. Kinda vague (understandably) about what to do and how to proceed. Like a minnow fighting upstream rapids.

[@d8d7dd]

"Do you ever go on KZbin on want to watch one video and an hour later you've watched 27?" That's exactly where I am right now. It's three in the morning right now on a work day...

[@G_G251]

Welcome to the monetary system. You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave.

[@euttdsiggh2783]

G_Guy001 now i have that song stuck in my head

[@Arbityrdub]

What’s your idea?

[@poetsrear]

Anthony Ray: Something that has been considered. Super interesting to hear according prediction from "the outside". Any leads to spare publicly?

[@omerksx]

G_Guy001 i need to listen to hotel california right NOW.

[@faainspector9699]

G_Guy001 My brain just went straight to the guitar solo that follows those words..

[@majestysol7100]

"keep them entertained and they won't interfere"

[@nicktrice4921]

Bingo.

[@brynne77]

Do you mean keep 'us' entertained so we won't interfere with bad things that are happening in the country or world?

[@Azraile]

This video was picked for my by algorithms. Who else?

[@joostlochtenberg7658]

The most important thing people need to learn in this age of algorithms, is learning how to keep questioning their perception of the truth.

[@peterfaretra]

Are there any coding geniuses out there that could create a program that generates personal data noise? Randomly messing with the algorithms sending them disinformation?? Something you could install on your phone or computer???

[@gold3nrul311]

people are saying "Ad nauseam" plugin for firefox (chrome banned it), but I did not install it... yet

[@Hirvee5]

with privacy badger you can actually block stuff like google analytics. It seems to me that it is working to some extent at least if you ban the right things. You become less visible. I think I had adds of diapers for like a week because I googled something very very distantly related to parenthood for some reason while being visible. And no I don't care about diapers. I am not about to be a parent. And if I was about to be become a parent, It would take me at least six more months to need diapers, or something like that.

[@JakeForrester]

Those are a good start, especially privacy badger (go EFF!). But even without any sort of explicit tracking (cookies, session data, localstorage etc.), you can still be tracked. Browser fingerprinting can do some pretty cool stuff without storing any data on your machine. You can even tell javascript to render a bunch of fonts then measure the size of the resulting output, comparing to the result of a fake font that will always result in a default text render, to see if the fonts are installed. Iterate through a few dozen common fonts (ex: to figure out what operating system they're on) and a few hundred obscure ones, and you have a decent idea of who someone is. And that's just /one/ data point on a browser fingerprint. Toss in your browser type, version of silverlight, version of flash, version of java, your timezone, browser dimensions, screen dimensions, system language, browser language... heck, even your DoNotTrack setting is another data point to fingerprint you.

[@putulraj6922]

Peter Faretra t.

[@McDoubleWithFries]

like videos you dont like, dont like videos you like, change the tone of your comment to contradict how you feel and pay close attention to what words you use and the aesthetic of your writing. switch this process up by taking off the mask at irregular intervals (liking videos when you do like them, commenting/not commenting, etc.). tradeoff is how others will view your digital self, whether they would actually take what you say as endorsements for potentially harmful content, at the expense of you protecting yourself from the algorithm

[@Hume820]

Too bad nobody will actually listen. They'll watch the video, say that's horrible, then go on facebook and it's business as usual. The problem it that the people watching this video don't or wont understand the stakes involved.

[@a.garcia9815]

Sammy SOME people won’t understand. The fact that you have posted the above comment, and many of the other comments posted here is evidence that some, even many people do understand.

[@BroCactus]

The people most prone to this technocratic manipulation are the least likely to find this video in the first place though...

[@Hume820]

So, where's the revolution then? There needs to be a catalyst to evoke change. The Snowdon incident clearly wasn't enough to get under people's skin. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it appears that Donald Trump being elected president was the catalyst for the revolution in Hollywood pertaining to sexual harassment and abuse of power. People need something utterly raw and repulsive to flash in front of their eyes to evoke a change in their mindset, to call for a mass-boycott of social media, including youtube, or to be more precise the corporations that have hijacked it.

[@Christopher.W]

There's hope. This video has caused me to deactivate my Facebook account until such a time as the dynamics described in the video become corrected or less problematic (if ever). I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[@anaf4072]

Sammy, there are no worthy leaders for the revolution. Not the right time just yet.

[@green2stayecoswdmarketingn339]

'Thankyou,a well thought out,sincere and timely dialogue!...

[@sobreaver]

I'm 40, I remember when I was young, I lived the internet @ 2400bauds, weren't even kb back then. I would let go of TV because I was so fed up with commercials but also I could find all kind of information I was particularly interested in on the net instead of simply watching what was available on TV. I remember the first commercials on TV of companies advertising their website, was such a jump. And I also remember back then just how screwed the net was rapidly becoming with ads. I was sad, my last ideal resort of escape was very soon becoming cluttered with wasteful bandwidth charges and useless visual pollution that would slow my computer down on load and kill my brain in its freedom. Still the same today, well just a little worst :((

[@captainmisan259]

A very relatable yet unpopular lecture about today’s world.

[@mostafizurrahaman6398]

As my Birth month is in June. In my Facebook newsfeed, I see the advertisement of t-shart written " Legends are born in June " They play with us with our emotion

[@Sl33pdust]

>t-shart

[@AXharoth]

damn they r nasty

[@narvuntien]

The most amusing thing is that I clicked on this video because it appeared on my up next column on the side. I have autoplay off of course. Still a very interesting (and scary) talk.

[@SirMikeys]

People wonder why the political environment has been so polarized recently. It's just a result of our online business models. Business is now the enemy of mankind, for it may bring upon our demise.

[@petitio_principii]

Not "business", political activists and commoners using tools that were initially developed for business purposes, now coopted in the business of selling politics. Business, at large, is just people making a living making and trading stuff according to what other people demand. By far the most unlikely "thing" to bring humanity's demise, compared with politicians. "Business wars" are most of the time just companies trying to outsell one another (exceptions being the business of selling weapons to warlords who see themselves as the rightful state leaders), nation-state wars actually kill people. In fact, there's even the idea nicknamed "golden arches theory of peace", which states that when two countries have McDonalds (as an arbitrary indicator of freedom of trade), they're way less likely to declare war with one another. A more "refined" version is the "Dell theory", having in mind more specifically the peace-keeping aspects of trade involving supply chains.

[@NikozBG]

@Petitio Principii But businesses like Facebook and Google are the reason why these algorithms exist and precisely these algorithms are what makes the social structures of the World extremely polarized. Think about it - If you have mild white supremacy inclination for example, YT will pick that and start showing you more white supremacy - themed videos, then FB will detect this and will start pushing the posts that have white supremacy agenda up in your feed. This will serve as a positive reinforcement feedback loop for you and this will make you believe your vision of the world is the correct one, until you become an extremist. I know its the simplest way to put it, but this things happen and its businesses fault that they use algorithms they have no control over. And yes for now only the biggest have these kind of tools, but it won't be long until this algorithms are used for basically anything. And to finish my point - social polarization and extremism is what creates political instability. And USA in my opinion is a perfect case study for this. I'm not even an US citizen and I felt over the last 5-10 years the social polarization over there just by watching the news. So lo and behold - Donald Trump becomes president and his elections rival was not much of a choice either.

[@redsquirrel3893]

I agree not all business ie VPNs are run by businesses with there best customers being business people travailing for business or in Coffey shops after a long day of business.

[@qncsc]

pffft. when she talked about "recommends" of white supremacist videos, then i knew the problem had more to do with her capacity to think critically. i doubt there were any "white supremacist" videos -- but rather she was seeing videos of those who were critical of the mainstream narrative that implores that (western) countries eliminate their national interest, bias toward identity and embrace a non-identity of inclusion of all countries. she is indicating a strength of recommends ... not a weakness, as people are able to see critical videos that were before never displayed when all content only came from a few large, central institutions that were biased toward elite interests -- or undermined interests of the individual.

[@nine300]

Not to mention it's already been destroying the natural environment for quite a while now.

[@channelforpositivitylunder9385]

*Digital literacy* , *critical thinking* skills, etc. need to be better developed...

[@marcelloursic424]

You can only do so much

[@msctbeats]

You're talking about a problem, not a solution ;)

[@AJ-xm4xc]

Hey, I am a subscriber. Nice to see you here.

[@barkingsheep5224]

Yes, but there are huge hoards of people who literally do not have the neurological structure for better functioning brains. Sure, there are stragglers who could perhaps benefit from education, but there are millions of people whos brains honestly just dont work effectively. Wanting to learn in the first place, a natural sense of curiosity, and a desire to be better tends to come with higher intelligence, which is related to neural networks and their structures. There is a very real biological limit in a majority of the population.

[@WelfareChrist]

Ever heard the saying "The only critical thinkers are people who know they are not critical thinkers."?

[@canaryimpulse989]

Do what I do. Every now and then, like, share and comment on things you DISAGREE WITH so Facebook keeps sending it to you, so you can keep your mind open, and informed about both sides of an issue and what your opponents are thinking. Not flawless but it works.

[@danielsjohnson]

That is why I keep this one lady I vaguely knew from a long time ago as a friend on Facebook. She has different political views than I do, but I'll comment on her posts sometimes. Sometimes I'll agree with her, sometimes I'll answer her silly "post a list of your top 10 X" posts. What's interesting is this started unintentionally when she said happy birthday to my sister on facebook and I "liked" her post.

[@Binerexis]

branflakestiger There are two browser add-ons that I use at the moment: one sends random search queries to the big search engines, the other is an ad blocker which clicks the ads it blocks (so the ads think they have your attention). TrackMeNot and Ad Nauseum.

[@canaryimpulse989]

The Lord's work you are doing.

[@avery-brown]

Ad Nauseum how clever a name!

[@vmizzell]

And I thought I was the only one ..... The problem now is they will be forced to come up with something like the Values And Lifestyles (VALS) surveys to figure out how to market to us nonconformists.

[@nastiaandrej]

5 years later, "1984" is again a best-seller. Thank you for the talk!

[@m_f_luder]

It's been a while since I read 1984, but as I remember it Winston's solitude in his awareness of his situation was a central theme. I don't think it makes any sense to contrast that story with a situation where people don't understand the extent to which they're being controlled. I think that was pretty much the entire problem in Orwell's dystopia.

[@grimview]

What if I could show you how your being controlled. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6HFZoZun8qHnbMm39s

[@danielsjohnson]

@Thomas Allen But didn't 1984 have the idea of the "fnord"? How it was implemented in the book (brainwashing at an early age to subconsciously ignore it whenever you see it) may or may not be relevant to my point. My point is the general public didn't know they were being manipulated by it and it was supposedly everywhere.

[@enoque2479]

danielsjohnson yeah, Winston only had the opportunity to know how the system worked because he worked inside the system.

[@XeclipseXZ]

I urge you to watch British mini series called Black Mirror. In season 1 episode 2 you would see an example of rampant ads and how they affect us.

[@XeclipseXZ]

Danny Morrissey yea and I think China wants to use a similar system by 2020, here is a link from independent. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-surveillance-big-data-score-censorship-a7375221.html

[@danielsjohnson]

You are the fifth person on the internet I've read mention it. I need to look into that.

[@TheCivildecay]

3 (4th season) coming isn't exactly a mini series :)

[@tty2020]

Ditch social media, ditch Fakebook...

[@combedpubes]

this is social media you lemon

[@JuancharroVlogs]

+Arnold Layne lol. Great usernam btw

[@combedpubes]

:) Cheers, always makes me smile when someone recognises it

[@combedpubes]

Oh and btw Brack I gotta thank you for putting me onto Cosmo Pyke there after looking at your channel, thats some good music

[@dingdingdingdiiiiing]

there's still google and gmail... and youtube

[@sadiqsomjee]

So true, well presented...thank you.

[@onqtam]

One of the best and most important TED talks in the recent years. Period.

[@duskears8736]

I love her boots. Rock that dress girl.

[@killougd]

She succumbed to the ad for those boots. LOL

[@martinlatvian5538]

I wish more people would understand this...

[@AdamSmith-ux5if]

Excellent video. Very informative and enlightening.

[@billythedead7127]

That was one of the most informative you tube video I've watched in a long time but I to you for this fine topic

[@1642joe]

Lesser note: auto play can and should be turned off

[@RowanGontier]

I watched her video because of a youtube recommendation. Keep at it Google. I trust you.

[@AnthonyL0401]

Rowan Gontier ..... To all the people saying theyre okay with this because an algorithm recommended this video, I say that you're the exact people who are most easily fooled.

[@Hirvee5]

I believe there was sarcasm some where there.

[@avinashlokhande8224]

Wow! It was just truly an amazing talk to the point and surely took one to think and act bit differently before it's too late......!!!

[@mysticoversoul]

Very timely talk and warning of the subtle dangers lurking in the use of social media.

[@dextrodemon]

glad i'm weird enough that facebook ads miss me by miles lol

[@yolo_zen]

Torc Handsomeson lolz same

[@JohnArktor]

Really? You sure of this? Reconsider.

[@AXharoth]

for now

[@patriciareilly530]

I can't buy anything but I regularly google and youtube couture fashion, homes in the Hamptons, Limoges, LaPerla lingerie, etc. so I only get beautiful ads.

[@ilove2929]

Every gen x and older gen needs to know this, excellent explanation on the scale of digital marketing and big data, it is not just ads placement anymore, views and all that, pls start measure the impact.

[@leifsinclair9368]

Very well done. This is a very good and engaging approach. This is very nice it is unbelievably good.

[@jamescannon9939]

You can't criticize her for not presenting a solution.. Identifying and admitting the problem is the first step. The Second step includes Learning about how and why these issues exists. Only then can solutions begin to emerge. Each successive step needs to be completed by an exponential amount of minds.. There is no one solution that can rescue us from our bubbles of influence, just as the problem is complicated and multifaceted, so too are the solutions.

[@poisonouslead85]

The solution is to gut all the algo's, the datamining, and the content curation. In short, the solution is to turn the internet into 4chan.

[@klausgartenstiel4586]

videos like this prove that the interconnected collection of human brains we call "society" is becoming aware of these threats and fights them. the outcome i don't know, but at least we won't go down without a fight.

[@alexsmith2910]

Agrred. The first step to solving a problem is knowing it exists.

[@seanburrows1220]

Or these algorithms know how to manipulate us into thinking we’re fighting it, so we calm down and go right back to not fighting it

[@kinguitar1987]

I was googling for paradoxes yesterday and today KZbin suggested me this video. I don't know if there is a relation, but it would be amazing if the algorithm had that level of "understanding".

[@nO_d3N1AL]

Unlike some TED talks, this one really is worth sharing! People need to be more aware of the corporate greed behind the seemingly innocent young tech giants.

[@zd4v1d]

In order to keep "them" from doing this, we have to make it not worth their while. Don't Facebook. Don't Twitter. My particular concern is how Tweets in particular drive the attention-grabbing focus in the USA. Just don't do it.

[@philosmaximus9359]

Word. The tweet thing is scary. I have been a fb user for a few years but all in all found it more isolating than connective. I'm over it. I guess this video confirms my bias against social media

[@iUseDemFrapz]

Meanwhile idiots like you should just stop using the Internet entirely. You might get a spooky virus!!!

[@mattizzle81]

I think KZbin also counts. It follows the same system, yet, here we are, on youtube commenting :P

[@brynne77]

You're probably right, zd4v1d.

[@GenJotsu]

"Humanity's Future? Who cares. I want money now!"

[@SefuDonalBastet]

Jo King "Who cares?" The utterly marginalized "Alt Right" and the utterly ignored "Alt (libertarian) Left" ... But the Totalitarianist Left and Right both want control of Authoritarian AI... So... "Bipartisanship" ... Yes? Meh.

[@carolleathern4685]

Look at more ads

[@whitemakesright2177]

t. every participant of liberal capitalism The Industrial Revolution was a mistake.

[@CandidDate]

Initiating self-destruct algorithm now.

[@hene193]

I want to eat today. Not in 100 years.

[@barkingsheep5224]

Great video. I suggest adding the book Thinking Fast and Slow to start delving into how hackable our brains are. This issue can be expanded to cover a lot of discussion topics, and that book is wonderful material about how easily influenced our perspectives are.

[@halestoorm511]

Brilliant speaker and brilliant speech truly important one

[@ThePlockets]

In an ironic twist, I watched this video because it was recommended for me by KZbin.

[@adriannicholas5480]

many kind thanks - the examples cited were particularly alarming.

[@apersonlikeanyother6895]

Awesome! Thank you.

[@hedgehog6041]

Love to see a follow up talk, because we are seeing the effects of all this today.

[@Feniso]

The algorithm is now showing me "inside the mind of a procrastinator". I'm scared.

[@tomasvanes]

At least its not "why white people are superior" man

[@Feniso]

@@tomasvanes Maybe because it thinks I'm black, like Antonio Banderas or Anya Taylor-Joy.

[@PaulaKovarik]

What if Facebook and KZbin offered up two columns in the Up Next column? Offering both opposing views and optimistic positive change as choices for viewing could be a useful anti algorithm tool for public discussion.

[@fredex8]

Opposing views on what though? If it's just political debate sure (although most countries don't just have two parties to chose from) but without oversight it could get really bad fast. Like if it wants to offer up a video of a black lives matter thing... then it might alternatively give you a KKK video in the other column. If it shows you a science video about space then the alternative might be flat earth craziness. Anytime a system is designed to also show you opposite opinions that is invariably going to lead to dangerous and hateful material that really shouldn't be offered unless you've directly searched it.

[@moh19931000]

The point is you're not supposed to notice it.

[@loupax]

Reminds me of a discussion I was having one day. - "I want to build a system that makes social media less addictive" - "Wow, you should go see a doctor if you are addicted to social media" Yeah, because having people and AI working 24/7 to steal my attention in order to sell me ads is totally in my head.

[@dlaity107]

Very interesting piece. Around 18 minutes though, does that not simply represent how we previously would never have known what people think in their private thoughts in the pre-digital era? Thanks so much for such an interesting talk - I will be thinking on this one for a good long while.

[@donjuan69420]

Would have said i watched a 30 second ad before this video but that would be lying.

[@millennialvs.theworld3849]

You better be ready for Seattle big man. Got 1,000,000 riding on you getting 152 yards and 2 tds.

[@keepyoureyespeeled1]

The irony of all this is that KZbin recommended me this video.

[@johnpacella9519]

Great presentation, very thought provoking. I have not been at all interested in social media. Always seemed a bit needy, desperate to me. Also, i choose every option available to me so that my interactions are hidden, including TOR, etc.

[@littlekitsune1]

I've never been on Facebook, and always use adblocker. So far it seems to work pretty well. (Though so many sites are starting to be actively anti-adblocker, which DOES scare me.)

[@jesse_cole]

Ironically, I ended up here because of the KZbin algorithm.

[@marc0871]

Meh, ads don't bother me anymore. I use Adblock Plus. Haven't seen an online ad for years. Bliss.

[@DrVein]

marc0871 That doesn't stop data mining, however. You still provide information used toward people similar to you. It also doesn't stop your from seeing ALL ads, as many appear in places a simple app or program can't hide.

[@marc0871]

Dackson Flux Yeah, sure. But the ads that (i let) do come through are not intrusive, so i hardly notice them. Data mining. Sure, it happens. But the only way it's different from statistics, is the scale and ease it's collected. And it's all due to technology; from count marks on a piece of paper, through the statistics from all kinds of credit/debit/preferred customer cards, to every click you make in your browser. Don't think it's a new thing. It is already going on for decades. And it's only going to get worse.

[@macready3068]

marc0871 and you think it's that easy? So you!

[@simonhughes1284]

As the lead data scientist in a small .com, people need to pay attention to this. Data Scientists / AI researchers can rarely tell you how the models work, normally the goal is to make them accurate, accountability is barely an after thought in most cases. There is great potential for real harm here. AI can do great good in the world, but it can also do great harm. It fundamentally concretes power in the hands of those that utilize it, and have access to the data it needs. FB, Google's and other social media /search company's missions are NOT evil, they are owned and run by mostly well meaning people. But the incentives of their business models are flawed and can lead to great harm to society.

[@PsoriasisChannel]

Super smart TED talk thanks...

[@Jaybird2064]

Amazing speaker. Truly frightening.

[@telph3223]

I'm kinda glad that I'm getting ads that better suit me. I've only really seen 3 or 4 ads online in my life that I've actually spent money on. I'm not really convinced that someone can force you to spend money because of ads or KZbin can force you to watch propaganda videos. people still choose to watch those videos, its not ai's fault, the answer isn't to get rid of ai, its to bring scummy business practices into light when they happen, but you can't just dis all ads and all of google and all of KZbin.

[@jeebus6263]

I use google's stuff everyday, and I'm learning the api by fb. I appreciate having "free" services however there is a cost, when I go on KZbin I can no longer choose what subject I want to see without opening an incognito window.

[@gold3nrul311]

and using a vpn

[@staringatthesun861]

One of the best TED Talks I've ever watched. And that's saying something.

[@rigultru]

Great talk, thank you.

[@pjhalchemy]

Ethos, logos and pathos...quot temporis ego habito, et quot temporis ego amo...adhuc nullum pax. Well spoken and researched talk. Thanks for presenting the material. However, without evolving and resolving our ethics it just looks like we will have to be satisfied with repeating our "selves" and our pathologies and not "becoming". Perhaps Pascal was right about sitting quietly in a room...

[@anaf4072]

best comment and right to the point

[@alexc2265]

He was super right!

[@pjhalchemy]

+Allan Duarte, Perhaps. And perhaps Alan Turing was right on the limits on the complexity of human intelligence, yet Jung's thoughts on the Ouroboros and mans unconscious being the Prima Materia for "becoming" rings an existential note. If all unicorns have horns does that mean there are unicorns? Who knows what the NN algorithms "think" about this thread? Is it an IS or Ought that we know such things? Perhaps the Shadow knows... #davidhumesguillotine, #marcusaureliusmeditations #whiteheadAdventuresofIdeas #russellsantinomy

[@alexc2265]

pjsalchemy I’d say that it does mean that they exist somehow, but unicorns most likely exist on earth merely as an idea. By my definitions, if something were to not exist at all, then it must not be conceived or physically present.

[@foxcheetah6035]

"Ethos, logos and pathos," **sudden flashbacks of 9th grade English class** But seriously, you have a good point.

[@Lucifer-cy6rp]

LOL I got this video from KZbin Recommendations... MACHINE ARE ALWAYS MACHINES

[@randall2158]

You seemed to have missed the entire point. How deliciously ironic.

[@DreamItVentures]

Great video on an important topic.

[@MALLUPLATO]

Your words became true.. watching this video Post Cambridge Analytica ...

[@m3cvfm]

I use a ad blocker on my browser and I got some companies saying that because I use a ad blocker that I was responsible for them sacking there staff and that there family's would go hunger. Big business are to blame for this as most don't pay there taxes. I am concerned that this will be the normal on most Web sites very very soon. I think it's about time to ditch the Internet now and social media as well. Good by Internet. .......

[@Roxor128]

There's blocklists for anti-adblock stuff. Doesn't work 100%, but does get rid of most of it.

[@themaintenanceman1056]

There are websites that will not allow you to use their site unless you disable your ad blocker or whitelist the site. The code of the site will not allow you to navigate to any other page on their site while you are blocking ads.

[@CyberChrist]

"Their". Also, Ad Nauseam specifically targets ad algorithms.

[@doctorzaius4084]

I will happily pay for websites and content creators on KZbin that I enjoy, but I will never whitelist anything!

[@fredex8]

Until websites stop allowing flashing, distracting adverts that make actually focusing on the content impossible without Ritalin and stop with popup windows that are clearly trying to install clumsily disguised malware and won't let you close the page... they have no right to complain about loss of income from blocking ads. It would be like cinemas complaining you aren't watching the trailers when every 'trailer' is just a man coming out from behind the curtain, coughing in your face and stealing your wallet...

[@TotalRookie_LV]

Forget about poitics. How about privacy? Imagine, I work in an offoce bulding with several companies in it. I pass a glass wall of other company, and there sits some very attractive girl. Then Facebook looks up friend suggestions based on my location, there are several my colegues, and _voila_ that girl too! So now I know her name and surname, can look up friends and photos, date of birth, hobbies and interests, if those are not hidden, from my other sock puppet account, thank you, Facebook!

[@TChere94]

Sources please! I would love to look into the studies she mentioned! Thanks!

[@maiavojnov5021]

I wish this video had Spanish subtitles! it would be great. Such an interesting talk!

[@MaxDamage1984]

KZbin's algorithm brought me here!

[@OfAngelsAndAnarchist]

And now the end of net neutrality

[@leightoncooke]

Excellent talk

[@rob-karenkennedy-parker3166]

Good talk. Ty.

[@TheCivildecay]

Wow the future will be Black Mirror...

[@cloutsensei]

We should all be like Jimmy from south park

[@dilibau]

OMG while watching this KZbin proposed to me other TED videos about the power of social media!

[@brendananderson4003]

Every day I get more and more convinced that I need to support creators and such on their own websites or places like Patreon.

[@angelic8632002]

Corporation will do anything that increases their earnings. That's sort of their point. Anything they can get away with.. and those that try to be ethical loose market share due to being less competitive. If you seriously want to change any of this then you need to change the incentive structure. Regulation is only patchwork.

[@jonahbert111]

The ironic part is the people so intent on increasing profits and control are already Multimillionaires if not billionaires (higher up than CEO). The only solution is to not allow wealth to build beyond a certain level for people, and families. Say we put $40 million as the limit. One can live quite well at that level I would think. But one cannot have huge control of countries and politics at that level compared to how the clan of Oligarchy operates now. The 1% now owns more than half the wealth of the world. way more actually, but it is concealed. And they are who control the world. Voting is just a facade, They control both parties. Vote however you like, but the elected will invariably be falling all over themselves to serve Israel above the US. That tells you where the power in the Oligarchy is centered.

[@angelic8632002]

+Daniel Rose While true, a bit simplistic. They too are a product of the system we live in and the values we run on. It pretty much built in in any market economy.

[@jonahbert111]

No, for the most part they are the very few percent of the population that are psychopathic. They have no empathy, by definition. Most people do not understand, perhaps cannot understand the true nature of psychopathy.

[@angelic8632002]

Daniel Rose If it only where that simple

[@jonahbert111]

Well, to flush it out requires a lot more. That is true. I am only presenting the base concept, not how it would ultimately present.

[@chiraldude]

Maybe it was too "controversial" for this presenter to talk about but she left out one very important part of the equation. The modern education system has been watered down to the point that critical thinking is quite rare in people born around the year 2000 and later. Without a large percentage of critical thinkers in the population, it becomes easy to manipulate the thought process.

[@petitio_principii]

It's incidentally implied, as, not long ago, Republicans have vetted or opposed to education laws that explicitly emphasized critical thinking. It's so weird that makes one feel he's living in some sort of "Truman's world" in a fake world that's a political satire. What's perhaps left out is that people have a somewhat natural drive to seek to confirm their views, not to challenge them. In that way, algorithms are just doing people what their want. Other aspect is that perhaps when you see something ridiculous of "the other side" perhaps you're more prone to adopt a more "radical" opposing view that you'd not normally have without the "strawman" priming before.

[@alexc2265]

Brian Sparks I don’t think you have good reason to criticize the reason of just the youth. Humans have always been terrible at critical thinking and the current state of affairs is more of a continuation in new circumstances than a degradation.

[@Dorian_sapiens]

Alexander -- Yes, humans are naturally terrible at critical thinking. This is why such a powerful tool as the scientific method has led to such rapid advancements after it was widely implemented. But I disagree that there's been no degradation. Certain educational practices are designed to teach students how to think; more and more, these are getting dumped in favor of shallow lesson in merely _what_ to think. Policy-wise, education has been a prime target of the American right for at least 40 years, and it's under fiercer assault today than ever before.

[@alexc2265]

dorianXsapiens You may be right with matters like creationism in schools, unquestioned approval of capitalism and Israel, and in general. It’s just not exactly what I’m perceiving in my experience. I’d be rather surprised to see that things were better in this way in the past.

[@nickcicchese2323]

Would you consider this speech to be informative or persuasive?

[@Hussein_Nur]

Great talk.

[@TheCooperjesse]

Wow I haven't watched a Ted talk I liked in like 5 years this was GOOD thank you

[@panzram31614]

I didn't hear too many "um"s, "uh"s, "like", "you know", or that annoying dental click (tongue smacking behind the teeth that so many people do when they speak) from this presenter. Her eloquence and erudition seem to be a bit puzzling to some in the crowd, as evidenced at about 5:42, when numerous viewers have their heads cocked quizzically like a dog that's confused at its master's instructions. Bravo to Tufekci for her observations and insight, whether she's preaching to the choir or to a pack of unenlightened mongrel curs.

[@Eternal_Satyr]

I really like her witch costume. All she needs is a pointy hat and an old broom and she's nailed it. :oD

[@Merrida100]

It was gorgeous! She wore a goth bell-sleeve dress with combat boots! Love it!

[@Chisegh]

I'm a digital marketer. I have used facebook lookalike audiences and all that stuff before to advertise, and it is indeed scary what facebook knows about every single one of us. The algorithm works like magic. But having done a lot of advertising, I also know that you can't just show ads to people and expect to 'manipulate' them. Whatever it is you try to get them to do (buy something or take another desired action), don't forget that there is a human being who has to make a conscious to take the action in the first place. The algorithm may be pretty good at targeting people who are likely to take the action you want them to make, but as human beings, we have the choice to say no if we don't want to. It's not just just the algorithm, you also have to blame the people who make bad choices.

[@Ratplague707]

This will never change until *profit* ceases to be the only economic motive. Political polarization is *profitable* for these companies because anger is addictive and addiction drives engagement.