Trends Forecast №2: Artificial Intelligence & Algorithms
We’re less than 20 years away from when some futurists have predicted arrival of The Singularity — that horizon line past which we cannot see — wherein AI will surpass human intelligence. Two decades out from that tipping point, we are already starting to see AI transform the ways we engage with experiences — and each other.
Industry reports predict that in five years, robots will take over 6% of US jobs, and Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa are getting smarter everyday; one particular bot assistant, named Amy Ingram, is so good that people send her flowers and chocolates. Almost every major social network and chat program integrated a bot this year, to streamline conversations and help with errands and tasks. Google’s bot can suggest responses in the middle of a chat exchange, so your fingers never even have to touch the keyboard.
Now imagine the potential for storytelling:
Branching paths have been flailing for over two decades’ now; it’s hard enough to tell one good story, let alone have a dozen branching variations keep you on the edge of your seat. But as AI and machine learning get smarter, more robust, and increasingly integrated into the apps we use on a daily basis, new storytelling opportunities arise… including the potential for data driven stories that learn from their audiences and adapt.
In the realm of non fiction, AI is being integrated into documentary projects to bring testimony to life for the participant, allowing them to engage with recordings as if they were talking to a live human being. The USC Shoah Foundation’s New Dimensions in Testimony project is a fascinating glimpse at how we will learn about history, in the future.
But the integration of AI and machine learning into the narrative process doesn’t just give us more agency. As it gives us the power to decide how to engage with stories, it also takes power away. That’s another reason why it is so vital that media makers grasp the power of AI: it’s not just capable of shaping the stories we engage with, it’s making the decisions about what stories we engage with in the first place.
When something goes wrong, online, blame the algorithm. When a historic photo gets censored from the largest platform in the world, it is the algorithm’s fault. When half the world wakes up in complete shock over the results of the Brexit vote, we point at the algorithms. Algorithms, the mysterious digital decision makers, are shaping what we see and what we read, and their time in the spotlight has only just begun.
Those who shape the algorithms, shape the stories that shape our culture.
