How are machine learning algorithms driving polarisation?

A common criticism of social media is that groups of people are creating echo chambers that exclude different perspectives, but these echo chambers are a goal encoded in these platforms’ software, not an accident. Wendy Chun FBA unpacks the role of homophily – the idea that similarity breeds connection, that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ – in how social media networks are designed. What can at first appear as simple technical defaults are the result of social and culturally influenced decisions. What if we built social media platforms that are not based on homophily? Speaker: Professor Wendy Chun FBA This video is for informative and educational purposes. You can read a transcript of this talk here: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/podcasts/why-and-how-are-machine-learning-algorithms-are-driving-polarisation/ 10-Minute Talks are a series of pre-recorded talks from Fellows of the British Academy screened on YouTube and also available on all podcasting platforms. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/10-minute-talks/id1530020476 This video was produced by https://www.haychdigital.com/ Subtitles, also known as closed captions, are available on our YouTube videos. You can access them by clicking on the 'CC' button or gear icon on the video. The 'CC' button and gear icon are usually located at the bottom of videos. The British Academy convenes research insights from across the disciplines we represent. The views expressed in our videos are those of the contributors and do not reflect the views of the British Academy. Comments are open to viewers and are governed by the policies of YouTube. We do not monitor or moderate comments and will not reply to them. Find out more about the British Academy: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/ For future events, visit our website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/ Subscribe to our email newsletter: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news-features/newsletter-sign-up/