Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine

by Hannah Fry

GPS was invented to launch nuclear missiles and now helps deliver pizzas.

Although AI has come on in leaps and bounds of late, it is still only ‘intelligent’ in the narrowest sense of the word. It would probably be more useful to think of what we’ve been through as a revolution in computational statistics than a revolution in intelligence.

For the time being, worrying about evil AI is a bit like worrying about overcrowding on Mars.fn1

there are already algorithms with free rein to act as autonomous decision-makers. To decide prison terms, treatments for cancer patients and what to do in a car crash. They’re already making life-changing choices on our behalf at every turn.

Meehl systematically compared the performance of humans and algorithms on a whole variety of subjects – predicting everything from students’ grades to patients’ mental health outcomes – and concluded that mathematical algorithms, no matter how simple, will almost always make better predictions than people.

It’s like the saying among airline pilots that the best flying team has three components: a pilot, a computer and a dog. The computer is there to fly the plane, the pilot is there to feed the dog. And the dog is there to bite the human if it tries to touch the computer.

algorithm aversion. People are less tolerant of an algorithm’s mistakes than of their own – even if their own mistakes are bigger.

All around the world, people have free and easy access to instant global communication networks, the wealth of human knowledge at their fingertips, up-to-the-minute information from across the earth, and unlimited usage of the most remarkable software and technology, built by private companies, paid for by adverts.

That was the deal that we made. Free technology in return for your data and the ability to use it to influence and profit from you.

Sesame Credit, a citizen scoring system used by the Chinese government.

If your rating is over 600 points, you can take out a special credit card. Above 666 and you’ll be rewarded with a higher credit limit. Those with scores above 650 can hire a car without a deposit and use a VIP lane at Beijing airport. Anyone over 750 can apply for a fast-tracked visa to Europe.

‘Restrictions on leaving the borders, restrictions on the purchase of … property, travelling on aircraft, on tourism and holidays or staying in star-ranked hotels.’

Cambridge Analytica

When that scandal broke in early 2018 the general public saw for the first time how algorithms are silently harvesting their data, and acknowledged that, without oversight or regulation, it could have dramatic repercussions.

algorithms being used in courtrooms I

the presence of cancer isn’t necessarily a problem: If somebody has a cancer cell in their body, the chances are their immune system will identify it as a mutated cell and just attack it and kill it – that cancer will never grow into something scary. But sometimes the immune system messes up, meaning the body supports the growth of the cancer, allowing it to develop. At that point cancer can kill.24

‘Should your driverless car hit a pedestrian to save your life?’ asked the New York Times in June 2016;17 and, in November 2017: ‘What happens to roadkill or traffic tickets when our vehicles are in control?’18 Meanwhile, in January 2018, the Financial Times warned: ‘Trucks headed for a driverless future: unions warn that millions of drivers’ jobs will be disrupted.’19

in 1983, the psychologist Lisanne Bainbridge wrote a seminal essay on the hidden dangers of relying too heavily on automated systems.48 Build a machine to improve human performance, she explained, and it will lead – ironically – to a reduction in human ability.

The more platforms we use to see what’s popular – bestseller lists, Amazon rankings, Rotten Tomatoes scores, Spotify charts – the bigger the impact that social proof will have. The effect is amplified further when there are millions of options being hurled at us, plus marketing, celebrity, media hype and critical acclaim all demanding your attention.

The algorithms we’ve built to date boast a bewilderingly impressive list of accomplishments. They can help us diagnose breast cancer, catch serial killers and avoid plane crashes; give each of us free and easy access to the full wealth of human knowledge with our fingertips; and connect people across the globe instantly in a way that our ancestors could only have dreamed of.

Everywhere you look – in the judicial system, in healthcare, in policing, even online shopping – there are problems with privacy, bias, error, accountability and transparency that aren’t going to go away easily.

the best algorithms are the ones that take the human into account at every stage.

Since losing to Deep Blue, Garry Kasparov hasn’t turned his back on computers. Quite the opposite. Instead, he has become a great advocate of the idea of ‘Centaur Chess’, where a human player and an algorithm collaborate with one another to compete with another hybrid team. The algorithm assesses the possible consequences of each move, reducing the chance of a blunder, while the human remains in charge of the game. Here’s how Kasparov puts it: ‘When playing with the assistance of computers, we could concentrate on strategic planning instead of spending so much time on calculations. Human creativity was even more paramount under these conditions.’2 The result is chess played at a higher level than has ever been seen before. Perfect tactical play and beautiful, meaningful strategies. The very best of both worlds.