Platforms wake up to the ethics of news
Facebook has learnt to its cost and humiliation that being the world’s biggest consumer platform does not give you the right to write your own rules. For years it based the way content was delivered to users entirely on maximising traffic and advertising revenue. This came at the cost of quality, veracity and credibility. The wheels of this crass vehicle were torn off by US elections diagnoses that partly blamed Facebook for the Russians manipulating the results.
Mark Zuckerberg may have hoped a mea culpa a few months ago would mollify the critics. But Facebook has remained a haven for fake news and toxic personal content.
Last week, it faced a far worse crisis than being blamed for Donald Trump. One of the biggest advertisers in the world, Unilever, threatened to withdraw advertising from online platforms that are used to “create division in society and promote anger and hate”.
Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed told a conference: “As one of the largest advertisers in the world, we cannot have an environment where our consumers don’t trust what they see online.”
The “digital supply chain” that is Facebook and Google was attacked for being “little better than a swamp in terms of its transparency”. Unilever, said Weed, could not continue propping up such a platform.
Considering that these sites deliver more than a quarter of Unilever’s advertising, the comments were an earthquake in the digital landscape.
Ironically, by trying to take an even bigger share of ad revenue from traditional media, Facebook and Google have been cutting off their lifeblood, leading to the demise of numerous media outlets, and undermining the ability of media to deliver trusted information.
In this context, the timing of a new study released by a global consulting firm this week could not have been better. The Accenture Technology Vision 2018 report provides forecasts on the trends that will unfold in the next three years, including “frictionless business”, “extended reality”, and the “internet of thinking”. These will all have a major impact on businesses and consumers.
Two other trends, however, spoke directly to the crisis of trust brought on by the epidemic of fake news and hate speech on Facebook and Google’s YouTube.
“Data veracity” will bring the importance of trust to the fore across the information spectrum, and “citizen AI” will demand of companies that they use artificial intelligence more responsibly.
The massive danger posed by AI is exemplified in the way Facebook used algorithms to destroy veracity. Now, an entire industry must make amends. And it is a South African issue, too.
Willie Schoeman, MD of Accenture Technology, Africa, said at the South African launch of the study that 72% of local executives agreed in a survey that, within the next two years, AI will work next to humans in their organisations, as a coworker, collaborator and adviser.
He warned: “As artificial intelligence grows in its capabilities — and its impact on people’s lives — businesses must move to ‘raise’ their AIs to act as responsible, productive members of society.”
The lowest common denominator will no longer be an intelligent way of using AI.
Goldstuck is the founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee and on YouTube
‘Data veracity’ will bring the importance of trust to the fore
The danger posed by AI is exemplified in the way Facebook used algorithms to destroy veracity