Wikimania 2023 - Plenary - 19 August - From Mozilla Foundation, The Importance of Real Transparency in AI

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The Importance of Real Transparency in AI

Speaker: Ashley Boyd of the Mozilla Foundation

Abstract: AI-powered internet platforms have an outsized impact on billions of lives. We need accountability mechanisms for these platforms and the companies that make them — and accountability starts with transparency. More and more internet platforms are relying on AI systems to recommend and curate content. And it’s clear that these systems can have negative consequences, such as misinforming consumers, radicalizing the disenchanted and polarizing large portions of the country. While the dark side of AI systems may be harmful to users, those systems are a gold mine for platforms. Rabbit holes and outrageous content keep users watching, and thus consuming advertising.

Transparency can help address this problem. But what does real transparency look like? First, it should apply to parts of the internet ecosystem that most affect consumers, like AI-powered ads and recommendations. In the case of political advertising, platforms should meet researchers’ baseline requests by introducing databases with all relevant information that are easy to search and navigate. In the case of recommendation algorithms, platforms should share crucial data like which videos are being recommended and why, and also build recommendation simulation tools for researchers. People should be able to easily identify why specific content is being recommended to them or who paid for that political ad in their feed.

To achieve this, we must enforce existing regulations, introduce new laws and mobilize a vocal consumer base. As Big Technology companies exert ever more influence over our individual and collective lives, visibility into what they are doing and how they operate is more important than ever. We can’t afford to let transparency become a meaningless tagline — it’s one of the few levers for change in the public interest that we have left.

Presented at: Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, 2023-08-19 03:15 to 4:00 UTC

Etherpad link: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/8UWMMC

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