Holding Algorithms Accountable

Artificial intelligence programs are extremely good at finding subtle patterns in enormous amounts of data, but don't understand the meaning of anything. Whether you are searching the Internet on Google, browsing your news feed on Facebook, or finding the quickest route on a traffic app like Waze, an algorithm is at the root of it. Algorithms have permeated our daily lives; they help to simplify, distill, process, and provide insights from massive amounts of data. According to Ernest Davis, a professor of computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences whose research centers on the automation of common-sense reasoning, the technologies that currently exist for artificial intelligence (AI) programs are extremely good at finding subtle patterns in enormous amounts of data. "One way or another," he says, "that is how they work."