Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2019 |
Outros Autores: | , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001 |
Resumo: | Social media have changed the communication practices by creating an acute need for continuous interaction. The use of social chatbots is growing as an effective way to communicate with publics. Bots have become social actors and then, someone must account for their actions. Since responsibility is bounded to agency and rationality, it cannot be directly attributed to bots. Who should be held responsible for non-human beings' actions, particularly when the consequences of these actions are negative? We address this controversy from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Firstly, we discuss the adequacy of the notions of moral responsibility and accountability regarding non-human artificial agents, as they are ruled by complex, intentionally opaque and unpredictable interactions and processes. We do it from the two approaches currently predominant: context-dependent and structuralist. Secondly, we draw on the assumption that the failure of a computer system is an opportunity to gain knowledge about the interested powers behind its design and functioning. Then, taking the concept of media frame as an implicit way of spotting the agent of the story, we perform an exploratory analysis on how responsibility was attributed by the media in the paradigmatic case of the transformation of Tay, a chatbot launched by Microsoft in 2016, turned into a racist, Nazi and homophobic hate speaker. Our results illustrate the difficulties media experienced in consistently attributing the responsibility for the chatbots' malfunction. Results show the discourse is, in general, simplistic, non-critical and misleading, and tends to depict a reality that favors business's interests. We conclude that, while all the actors interacting with the chatbot share the responsibility of its actions, it is only Microsoft who must account for these actions, both retrospectively and prospectively. |
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Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic cultureChatbotsbig social dataartificial intelligenceTwitteralgorithmic cultureaccountabilityattribution of responsibilityTayhate speechSocial media have changed the communication practices by creating an acute need for continuous interaction. The use of social chatbots is growing as an effective way to communicate with publics. Bots have become social actors and then, someone must account for their actions. Since responsibility is bounded to agency and rationality, it cannot be directly attributed to bots. Who should be held responsible for non-human beings' actions, particularly when the consequences of these actions are negative? We address this controversy from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Firstly, we discuss the adequacy of the notions of moral responsibility and accountability regarding non-human artificial agents, as they are ruled by complex, intentionally opaque and unpredictable interactions and processes. We do it from the two approaches currently predominant: context-dependent and structuralist. Secondly, we draw on the assumption that the failure of a computer system is an opportunity to gain knowledge about the interested powers behind its design and functioning. Then, taking the concept of media frame as an implicit way of spotting the agent of the story, we perform an exploratory analysis on how responsibility was attributed by the media in the paradigmatic case of the transformation of Tay, a chatbot launched by Microsoft in 2016, turned into a racist, Nazi and homophobic hate speaker. Our results illustrate the difficulties media experienced in consistently attributing the responsibility for the chatbots' malfunction. Results show the discourse is, in general, simplistic, non-critical and misleading, and tends to depict a reality that favors business's interests. We conclude that, while all the actors interacting with the chatbot share the responsibility of its actions, it is only Microsoft who must account for these actions, both retrospectively and prospectively.OberCom2019-06-01info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001Observatorio (OBS*) v.13 n.2 2019reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttp://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001Suárez-Gonzalo,SaraMas-Manchón,LluísGuerrero-Solé,Fredericinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess2024-02-06T17:22:25Zoai:scielo:S1646-59542019000200001Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T02:29:05.016707Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
title |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
spellingShingle |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture Suárez-Gonzalo,Sara Chatbots big social data artificial intelligence algorithmic culture accountability attribution of responsibility Tay hate speech |
title_short |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
title_full |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
title_fullStr |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
title_sort |
Tay is you: The attribution of responsibility in the algorithmic culture |
author |
Suárez-Gonzalo,Sara |
author_facet |
Suárez-Gonzalo,Sara Mas-Manchón,Lluís Guerrero-Solé,Frederic |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Mas-Manchón,Lluís Guerrero-Solé,Frederic |
author2_role |
author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Suárez-Gonzalo,Sara Mas-Manchón,Lluís Guerrero-Solé,Frederic |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Chatbots big social data artificial intelligence algorithmic culture accountability attribution of responsibility Tay hate speech |
topic |
Chatbots big social data artificial intelligence algorithmic culture accountability attribution of responsibility Tay hate speech |
description |
Social media have changed the communication practices by creating an acute need for continuous interaction. The use of social chatbots is growing as an effective way to communicate with publics. Bots have become social actors and then, someone must account for their actions. Since responsibility is bounded to agency and rationality, it cannot be directly attributed to bots. Who should be held responsible for non-human beings' actions, particularly when the consequences of these actions are negative? We address this controversy from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Firstly, we discuss the adequacy of the notions of moral responsibility and accountability regarding non-human artificial agents, as they are ruled by complex, intentionally opaque and unpredictable interactions and processes. We do it from the two approaches currently predominant: context-dependent and structuralist. Secondly, we draw on the assumption that the failure of a computer system is an opportunity to gain knowledge about the interested powers behind its design and functioning. Then, taking the concept of media frame as an implicit way of spotting the agent of the story, we perform an exploratory analysis on how responsibility was attributed by the media in the paradigmatic case of the transformation of Tay, a chatbot launched by Microsoft in 2016, turned into a racist, Nazi and homophobic hate speaker. Our results illustrate the difficulties media experienced in consistently attributing the responsibility for the chatbots' malfunction. Results show the discourse is, in general, simplistic, non-critical and misleading, and tends to depict a reality that favors business's interests. We conclude that, while all the actors interacting with the chatbot share the responsibility of its actions, it is only Microsoft who must account for these actions, both retrospectively and prospectively. |
publishDate |
2019 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2019-06-01 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001 |
url |
http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-59542019000200001 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
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text/html |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
OberCom |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
OberCom |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Observatorio (OBS*) v.13 n.2 2019 reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
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1799137359159099392 |