A company has attempted to demo a technology called ‘Triplex’ that would call restaurants or hair salons to make appointments on your behalf with a very human-like voice. The voice would even incorporate the use of human speech ticks like “um” and is able to reply to nuanced questions.
Triplex’ does make itself known as an automated system to its callers, much to people’s dismay. While ‘Triplex’ does disclose that it is indeed an automated system, approximately of its calls are made by real humans from call centers. One da a user decides to test out ‘Triplex’ and makes a call to a restaurant.
A waiter from the restaurant picks up the phone and has no idea they are speaking with the AI. The user is amazed by the performance of ‘Triplex’ but also perplexed by its ingenuity.
What the user does not know is that ‘Triplex’, like many other AIs, require an immense amount of data to run. Incidentally, the company that created ‘Triplex’ has been using call centers to help generate data that can accelerate the training process for the AI.
What the user does not know is that ‘Triplex’, like many other AIs, require an immense amount of data to run. Incidentally, the company that created ‘Triplex’ has been using call centers to help generate data that can accelerate the training process for the AI.
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Companies in the private sector can set a precedent now by explicitly stating when users are interacting with an automated system. Undisclosed algorithms can also be an issue in political discourse and undermine democratic institutions. The industry group Broadband for America was responsible for submitting millions of fake comments supporting the repeal of net neutrality.
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Civil society should be prepared to become technologically literate and cautious of using apps that take advantage of their data and engage in an informed dialogue with
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Digital platforms and Social media companies need to be held accountable to some standards by policy makers whereby there is prescriptive regulation focused on the accountability of these social media platforms not unlike the framework presented by the French government.
Awareness & Literacy, Respect and protection of human dignity, responsibility & accountability, privacy, transparency.
Know more about this case:
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“Why AI systems should disclose that they’re not human”, Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/90458448/why-ai-systems-should-disclose-that-theyre-not-human
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“Google’s Duplex Uses AI to Mimic Humans (Sometimes)”, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/technology/personaltech/ai-google-duplex.html#:~:text=It%20came%20through%20Google%20Duplex,of%20Android%20devices%20and%20iPhones.
Additional Resources:
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“Creating a French Framework to make social media platforms held more accountable: Acting in France with a European vision”, French Ministry of Economy and Finance, https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/uploads/Regulation-of-social-networks_Mission-report_ENG.pdf