How AI changes our world perception
The main search engines utilization is now as follows:
81% Google: the most used search engine in the world, its AI is powered by data on the internet (which mostly have a male identity, Western and Caucasian connotations).
5% Bing: Microsoft, provides similar results as Google
2% Yahoo: Powered by results from Bing and Google.
About 90% of internet searches acquire data from the same base and propose answers through the same AI algorithms.
Google has become the main oracle to ask questions.
Baidu 10%: it is the most used in China and is powered by its own AI.
The debate on Google search for the phrase — Professional haircut — and its opposite is famous. The first search provides results of images of male men while the second of a female with different physical-somatic characters.
Professional haircut result
Unprofessional haircut result
Google recently clarified the rationale for what appears to be a sexist or racist result. “Our search systems rely on a number of factors, including word match, to bring out results. For many of the results, the words — unprofessional hairstyles — appear in the articles and many of these stories, and many of these stories rightly denounce the discrimination that colored people have when it comes to their hair. “
We are all victims of preconceptions and prejudices; when we express ourselves we are mostly aware of having them, but when we look for something on the internet we forget that our preconceptions are the basis of the research that will produce the results we are looking for.
Therefore we cannot fully rely on the results obtained.
The most common attitude of people who use to — Google it — is instead of trusting results blindly, forgetting the GIGO effect (garbage in, garbage out) for which the uncritical processing of a set of data produces a senseless result.
But in this world of uncertainties, there is a need to rely on those who always provide an answer, preferably the one expected; this psychological attitude outfits security and reduces anxiety.
It is therefore up to all of us to avoid the creation of sacred monsters, totalitarian oracles from which accept supinely answers or decisions.
What we find on the internet is only what has been put on the internet, it may not be the truth or it may simply not exist, so we must never abandon the critical spirit and always ask ourselves about the true meaning of things because the internet and social networks must be used consciously, fully understanding the consequences of their incorrect use.
Without this awareness, AI will change our perception of the world, polarizing our way of perceiving it and the choices we will make in the future. The demon to be fought is not therefore technology, but the use we make of it unconsciously.
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