Convergence: Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing

CHAPTER 17Empathetic AI and Personalization Algorithms

Philippe Beaudoin, CEO and Cofounder, Waverly; and Alexander W. Butler, Associate Director, Quantum Alliance Initiative, Hudson Institute

In 1989 the World Wide Web was invented, and it came with a dream. Talking about this dream, Sir Tim Berners-Lee once wrote, “The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect—to help people work together—and not as a technical toy.” Yet today, it looks like we're getting further and further away from the togetherness that Berners-Lee was dreaming about. Fake news is spreading like wildfire. People adopt radical positions and defend them vehemently. Anger dominates online discussions. The World Wide Web and the social media platforms it harbors are driving us apart.

Although we can see these divisive forces at play on social media, it's hard to fully understand the mechanisms that lead to them. Why do people write angry comments? Why do they reshare fake news? Why do they believe increasingly irrational claims?

Part of the answer lies in human psychology, but part of it also depends on what these platforms place in front of us. To understand why the web is driving us apart, it's useful to dive into the technologies that are being used to select the content we see.

Almost all technological platforms today have a similar objective: to offer people a personalized experience. In common parlance, we refer to the mechanisms that power such platforms as ...