Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFacebook fires trending team, and algorithm without humans goes crazy
Facebook fires trending team, and algorithm without humans goes crazy
Module pushes out false story about Foxs Megyn Kelly, offensive Ann Coulter headline and a story link about a man masturbating with a McDonalds sandwich
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm
Just months after the discovery that Facebooks trending news module was curated and tweaked by human beings, the company has eliminated its editors and left the algorithm to do its job. The results, so far, are a disaster.
Facebook announced late Friday that it had eliminated jobs in its trending module, the part of its news division where staff curated popular news for Facebook users. Over the weekend, the fully automated Facebook trending module pushed out a false story about Fox News host Megyn Kelly, a controversial piece about a comedians four-letter word attack on rightwing pundit Ann Coulter, and links to an article about a video of a man masturbating with a McDonalds chicken sandwich.
A source familiar with the matter told the Guardian that the trending team was fired without notice in a meeting with a security guard present. The ex-employees received four weeks severance.
The past weekend has been less than auspicious for Facebooks new, inhuman workforce: on Saturday, the site pushed an article to some of its users entitled: BREAKING: Fox News Exposes Traitor Megyn Kelly, Kicks Her Out For Backing Hillary. Megyn Kelly is still employed by Fox News and has not endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
Module pushes out false story about Foxs Megyn Kelly, offensive Ann Coulter headline and a story link about a man masturbating with a McDonalds sandwich
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm
Just months after the discovery that Facebooks trending news module was curated and tweaked by human beings, the company has eliminated its editors and left the algorithm to do its job. The results, so far, are a disaster.
Facebook announced late Friday that it had eliminated jobs in its trending module, the part of its news division where staff curated popular news for Facebook users. Over the weekend, the fully automated Facebook trending module pushed out a false story about Fox News host Megyn Kelly, a controversial piece about a comedians four-letter word attack on rightwing pundit Ann Coulter, and links to an article about a video of a man masturbating with a McDonalds chicken sandwich.
A source familiar with the matter told the Guardian that the trending team was fired without notice in a meeting with a security guard present. The ex-employees received four weeks severance.
The past weekend has been less than auspicious for Facebooks new, inhuman workforce: on Saturday, the site pushed an article to some of its users entitled: BREAKING: Fox News Exposes Traitor Megyn Kelly, Kicks Her Out For Backing Hillary. Megyn Kelly is still employed by Fox News and has not endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 1046 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Facebook fires trending team, and algorithm without humans goes crazy (Original Post)
Miles Archer
Aug 2016
OP
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)1. When Skynet takes over, just remember I warned you. nt
LAGC
(5,330 posts)2. Sounds almost as bad as Microsoft's "Tay."
Trolls and pranksters turned that "intelligent" attempt at a bot into a foul-mouthed Nazi mouth-breather within 24 hours.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist
A.I. definitely ain't ready for prime time yet.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)3. When AI is really SkyNet level this is why it will wage war on us