The inevitability of recommendation algorithms

The core problem with social media is not anybody can post. It’s that any post can be amplified to millions of people. What worries me most with AI hype is the speed and scale this happens will only get worse.

What do we do about it? This article has a great critical take despite a horrible title. I don’t think they’re a necessary evil. But they exist and they feel inevitable.

Recommendation Algorithms Are a Necessary Evil (Sort Of) (Napkin Math / Evan Armstrong)

It would be more productive to examine how algorithms impact our decision-making and culture by considering three rules that are often overlooked by one or both sides.

1. Tech companies need to acknowledge that algorithms are deeply editorial, meaning they have the power to shape opinions and perspectives.
2. Critics must recognize that design sets the boundaries of influence.
3. Third, monetization sets the boundaries for what companies are incentivized to do with these algorithms.

And if you need more convincing that recommendation algorithms are inherently problematic, this next report is worth the read.

The story we tell ourselves about the internet is it lets us access more diverse content, and recommendation algorithms help us find them. Yet, when it comes to search algorithms, a few major companies dominate our results.

How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results (2023 Edition) (Detailed / Glen Allsopp)

Across 10,000 terms where affiliates are ranking, which cover products in every niche you can think of (home, beauty, tech, automotive, cooking, travel, sports, education and many more), these 16 companies ranked on the first page of 8,421 (or 84%) of them.

By design, recommendation algorithms push content to us into a single, context-free feed. That makes them feel inevitable and comes incentives to create garbage.

💩 Cool shit

They Rule - An interactive visualization showing how many US companies are connected by their board of directors.

Auto-Photoshop-StableDiffusion-Plugin - A plugin to generate stable diffusion images inside Photoshop.

Banshees The Game - At its most basic this is a Pac-Man clone. But it’s also a hilarious spoof of the brilliant The Banshees of Inisherin.

Wikenigma - A wiki documenting gaps in human knowledge. This was a fun rabbit hole.

Loewe x Howl’s Moving Castle - A cool mobile-only Studio Ghibli experience.

The Last of Us Intro Creator - Put your name in the credits of The Last Of Us.

Morse Chat - Use morse code to message people in this chatroom. Why? I don’t know.

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