Are We Being Manipulated By Artificially Intelligent Software Agents?

an article by Michael Klenk published in 3 Quarks Daily



Someone else gets more quality time with your spouse, your kids, and your friends than you do. Like most people, you probably enjoy just about an hour, while your new rivals are taking a whopping 2 hours and 15 minutes each day. But save your jealousy. Your rivals are tremendously charming, and you have probably fallen for them as well.

I am talking about intelligent software agents, a fancy name for something everyone is familiar with: the algorithms that curate your Facebook newsfeed, that recommend the next Netflix film to watch, and that complete your search query on Google or Bing.

Your relationships aren’t any of my business. But I want to warn you. I am concerned that you, together with the other approximately 3 billion social media users, are being manipulated by intelligent software agents online.

Here’s how. The intelligent software agents that you interact with online are ‘intelligent agents’ in the sense that they try to predict your behaviour taking into account what you did in your online past (e.g. what kind of movies you usually watch), and then they structure your options for online behaviour. For example, they offer you a selection of movies to watch next.

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Hazel’s comment:
Reading this I was thinking something along the lines of “is it that simple?” and realising that for many people it is. When offered the next part of a box set do you go to bed or do you stay up to watch? Have you got a mind of your own?
Setting myself up as above all that I realised that I have been persuaded into spending money on things that might be nice to have but which I neither need nor can afford.
There is a more thought-out comment on the original post which you may like to read as well.

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Factors determining the flow of information among the online community users

an article by Sapna Choraria (Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India) published in Journal of Systems and Information Technology Volume 14 Issue 2 (2012)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this descriptive study is to focus on the salient features of perceived sociability and perceived usability that motivates the members to participate repeatedly on social networking online community web site. The paper proposes that each individual relegate different importance on the dimensions of usability and sociability in terms of the quest of knowledge versus causal knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-designed questionnaire administered among 600 sample respondents (users of Facebook.com) through online survey method. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine and improve the usability of the measurement tool followed by structural equation modelling to test the proposed framework.
Findings
The findings indicate that ease of use, behaviour and interaction is been given an equal level of importance by both the groups, while satisfaction is given the least consideration.
Research limitations/implications
The community used to study the flow of the information belongs to the single general purpose category. Also the target sample size is restricted to active online users belonging to the category of professionals from India.
Practical implications
The results of this research work will provide a framework of user-centric strategy for the online managers to maintain the dual directional flow of information, i.e. seeking and contributing, and achieve online success.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing knowledge of social networking process on online community web site promoting user participation through continuous flow of information.

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