Algorithms are in everything from your social media use to how many companies curate your playlists. Researcher Joy Buolamwini and writer Kyle Chayka question the extent of their influence and helpfulness.
Qi Yang/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Qi Yang/Getty Images
Algorithms are in everything from your social media use to how many companies curate your playlists. Researcher Joy Buolamwini and writer Kyle Chayka question the extent of their influence and helpfulness.
Qi Yang/Getty Images
Joy Buolamwini and Kyle Chayka want you to know: Algorithms aren’t that complicated.
“To me, an algorithm is just a sequence of steps to achieve an outcome,” says Buolamwini, a computer scientist and author of the book Unmasking AI.
“In the literal sense, it’s like an equation,” adds Chayka, a writer for the New Yorker and author of Filterworld. “When we talk about the algorithm or algorithms in general, it’s a kind of boogeyman … [but] they do come back to these equations that are just taking in variables. You know, on Facebook, things like likes, or what you’ve clicked on before, or what other people similar to you have clicked on, they’re crunching all that data and then determining our results.”
Both of them recently joined Short Wave host Regina Barber for a panel at this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival. Today, we’re bringing you a shortened version of that conversation to discuss: How do algorithms work? What are their impacts? And how could humans be a part of changing them for the better?
Interested in hearing more technology stories? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we’d love to consider your idea for a future episode!
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
This episode was produced and fact-checked by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.