• 
• 7 min
• Chronicle
• 2021

The history of AI contains a pendulum which swings back and forth between two approaches to artificial intelligence; symbolic AI, which tries to replicate human reasoning, and neural networks/deep learning, which try to replicate the human brain.

• Singularity
• Scientific Innovation
• Machine Learning
• Networks

• 
• 10 min
• The Washington Post
• 2019

After prolonged discussion on the effect of “bots,” or automated accounts on social networks, interfering with the electoral process in America in 2016, many worries surfaced that something similar could happen in 2020. This article details the shifts in strategy for using bots to manipulate political conversations online, from techniques like Inorganic Coordinated Activity or hashtag hijacking. Overall, some bot manipulation in political discourse is to be expected, but when used effectively these algorithmic tools still have to power to shape conversations to the will of their deployers.

• Digital Media Misinformation
• Polarization
• Machine Learning
• Social Networks

• 
• 7 min
• MIT Tech Review
• 2020

This article examines several case studies from the year of 2020 to discuss the widespread usage, and potential for limitation, of facial recognition technology. The author argues that its potential for training and identification using social media platforms in conjunction with its use by law enforcement is dangerous for minority groups and protestors alike.

• Civil Surveillance
• Algorithmic Bias
• Machine Learning
• Biometrics

• 
• 5 min
• Venture Beat
• 2021

Relates the story of Google’s inspection of Margaret Mitchell’s account in the wake of Timnit Gebru’s firing from Google’s AI ethics division. With authorities in AI ethics clearly under fire, the Alphabet Worker’s Union aims to ensure that workers who can ensure ethical perspectives of AI development and deployment.

• Tech Monopolies
• Technology and Race
• Machine Learning

• 
• 7 min
• Wired
• 2021

An anonymous college student created a website titled “Faces of the Riot,” a virtual wall containing over 6,000 face images of insurrectionists present at the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The ultimate goal of the creator’s site, which used facial recognition algorithms to crawl through videos posted to the right-wing social media site Parler, is to hopefully have viewers identify any criminals that they recognize to the proper authorities. While the creator put safeguards for privacy in place, such as using “facial detection” rather than “facial recognition”, and their intentions are supposedly positive, some argue that the implications on privacy and the widespread integration of this technique could be negative.

• Data Privacy
• Digital Activism
• Data Mining
• Biometrics

• 
• 3 min
• Politico
• 2021

Live streaming technologies are challenging to moderate and might have a negative effect on society’s perception of violent events. They also raise the question of how such content can be deleted once it has been broadcasted and potentially copied multiple times by different recipients.

• Content Moderation
• Social Networks