Artificial Intelligence, Ratings, and the Small Print

People have always balked at reading terms of service -- the acres of fine print on the bottom of insurance policies and product agreements and in pop-ups on apps and websites. It's so much easier and quicker to click "I agree" than to wade through hours of boring legalese. A 2016 academic study found that 98 percent of people signed up for a fictitious free Wi-Fi service, NameDrop, even though clause 2.3.1 of its terms states: "By agreeing to these Terms of Service, and in exchange for service, all users of this site agree to immediately assign their first-born child to NameDrop, Inc." In this age of big data, AI, and machine learning, there must be a better way for companies to present -- and for consumers to manage -- the small print. A sense of urgency to develop such systems is rising.