What Can We Learn from the First Viral Attack on a Social Learning Algorithm? — Microsoft had to euthanize its “chatbot,” Tay, because after a day on the Internet it started chatting up genocide, misogyny and racial hatred. …

Thoughts on why the Facebook emotional contagion study blew up and why it matters — I am a researcher in the area of sociotechnical systems. As part of my university job I study what people do on Facebook and Twitter. Lately, my research community has become involved in an imbroglio over a controversial study on emotional contagion done by Facebook. I offered my initial impression…