What's the problem?

Let's define it.

When the experts featured in Netflix's critically acclaimed film, The Social Dilemma, were asked to define the problem, there was a moment of utter silence, followed by puzzled looks and a hint of nervous laughter. The humor of this moment is that there are so many problems within our current system that the complexity makes it nearly impossible to point a finger at one singular problem. "The problem" arises from our ever-growing addiction to social media, the threat to our democracy posed by mass manipulation behind our screens, the lack of regulation in our governing halls, the fight for data rights as fundamental human rights, the oppression reinforced through algorithms running our daily lives, the lack of responsibility taken for algorithmic glitches, and the power to drastically change our future dwelling in the hands of a select few without our conscious awareness or consent. All of these issues, as well as many others, lie at the foreground where AI and the funding model intersect to create this asymmetrical power system, or what I deem the root of "the problem."

Algorithms further perpetuate oppression through the inherent biases encoded into them, with no responsibility taken for these consequences when discovered. Algorithms are not neutral because they have been designed by humans, who are not neutral. We all have inherent biases based on our life experiences, so these biases are naturally encoded into the algorithms that we create. When we search something on Google, we expect the search engine to produce relevant and reliable information, not realizing that Google is an advertising company, not an encyclopedia. The search engine has been critically designed to feed us what it wants to based on manipulative and predictive patterns that we are completely unaware of. This lack of public awareness leads to further manipulation, threatening both our democracy and the future of humanity.

We desperately need transparency through regulation to combat this existential threat, but how can we regulate something that we can’t put a name to? Technology in the digital age has reached a complexity that no one can seem to categorize. It's nearly impossible to regulate something that we can’t define, so how do we get from pixels to policy? There are multiple models to draw from, such as the Public Broadcasting Model in which government funding would produce software infrastructure designed for the public benefit. Another model looks at technology as a public utility, where Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other monopolies would be held to public accountability through forced transparency and regulation to benefit the public sphere. Finally, if these monopolies were taxed upon their data collection, they would have restriction on the data they collect and use, thus giving the public more data rights. Ironically, data from the past is used in algorithms built for our future, and with no regulation surrounding this data, our history is both masked and repeated, posing a devastating effect on our future.

This is the place where the funding model intersects with AI to create this asymmetrical system of power that is disrupting the world as we know it. This power is held in the hands of very few, with no boundaries in place to restrict or protect it. This is where we find THE problem, and this is where we must begin in solving it.