Zola’s Algorithm — Is it already a reality?
If you haven’t watched any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, fair warning : SPOILERS AHEAD!
In the 2014 hit, Captain America : The Winter Soldier, there is this pretty nonchalant scene where HYDRA and SHIELD Agent Jasper Sitwell talks about what the movie calls Zola’s Algorithm. He says “ The 21st Century is a digital book and Zola’s Algorithm knows how to read it….your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola’s algorithm evaluates people’s past to predict their future “. What appeared to be a pretty standard dialogue and motive for any super villain worth his salt, it’s really concerning how much of that is a reality 6 years later. According to the movie, Zola’s algorithm was created as an application of Artificial Intelligence as a means of surveillance on everyone in the world.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for around 70 years but its major leaps have all occurred in the last 30 years starting with IBM’s Deep Blue beating a grand master in chess and all the way up to AI algorithms entering your social media platforms. What started out as a technology to aid and optimize supply chains in various industries is well on its way to optimize the behavior of billions of people worldwide.
The real influence of the digital age on the very choices that citizens make is most visible in countries like China who have emerged as what is known to be an ‘AI Superpowers’ in 2020. A relevant example for the application and implementation of Artificial Intelligence on the billions of citizens in China is the Social Score. In most democracies in the world, the different institutions of society like government, administration, corporations, press, courts, law enforcement and the public are in constant dialogue. This dialogue is essential in determining what we define as right or wrong. In an AI-influenced country like China, this task has been partly taken over by machines. Complex behavioral algorithms determine what is correct and incorrect behavior. The Social Score is an AI system that collects all sorts of information about citizens such as their search patterns, their internet usage, police records, text messages, bank records, educational backgrounds and even the pattern of how often you charge your phone or if you spit gum on the street or run a red light. This information is used to determine every citizen’s Social Score. This score will give unsolicited effects starting from ease of visa processing for travel, interest rates for bank loans to algorithms deciding whether to show your profile on dating sites.
Later on in the movie, the artificial brain of Arnim Zola explains how the world is ready to give up its freedom for its security. The internet and social media were hailed as champions of change for the promotion of free speech around the world. However, in this day and age with so much of what we do being influenced and controlled without us even aware of it, it begs the question, is all this just an illusion of freedom. We are often prey to giving social media corporations access to our personal information. We justify it saying ‘Hey, what are they going to do with my information?’. Imagine a billion people saying the same thing and volunteered that data. This gives any corporation (or government) a sample size so large and comprehensive that they are able to understand what interests people and push content specific to their individual likes/dislikes to keep everyone ‘under control’. We are already seeing cases of this being a reality with the incredible ‘Explore’ page on Instagram which can keep you hooked for hours because it knows what interests you. More intriguing are the alleged rumors of Instagram and other social media applications listening in to your conversations and showing ads for things you literally just talked about.
A 2020 iteration of Zola’s algorithm can mostly be seen as something that evaluates peoples past and shapes their future rather than predicting it. The influence of such technology on our very behavior and choices are already evident today with how Cambridge Analytica took user information from citizens to influence the 2016 American Presidential race. It is also apparent how this affects our political movements. Gone are the days of people marching out on the streets to protest an injustice for years on end. What this has created is a shift from the idea of a political movement/struggle to just a trend which dies down when the next one comes around. It is frightening to note how such behavioral changes would be desirable over a long period of time to establish a dystopian autocratic rule in the world.
As Cap rightly said, “The world is run by people with agendas and agendas change”. Yes, I am on Team Cap in Captain America : Civil War. However, what he said about agendas is relevant to today. The rapid evolution and growth of AI can be quickly changed from a tool to a weapon which can push the selfish agendas of the corporate (or governments) onto the public. This presents itself as a metaphorical Trojan Horse which appears friendly in the form of online content but is affecting the way we think and make conscious choices without us even knowing about it.
Zola’s Algorithm of 2020 might not exactly be what the movie said in 2014 but it is quickly becoming a reality which can crush our right to dissent and remove our ability to question those in power. Although things may seem like we’re hurtling towards the dystopian future of Oceania as described by George Orwell in his book ‘1984’, there is still a lot of hope with the decentralization of the internet that is coming with the advent of blockchain technologies etc. The very device that you are reading this on today was created as an instrument for creativity and a tool to enable the masses to stand up to Big Brother (a ‘1984’ reference; really worth the read). Paraphrasing Captain Steve Rogers, “We as humans may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own”.
