Caught in a social media echo chamber? AI can help you out, new study shows
Srebrenica massacre survivor Nedzad Avdic at a cemetery outside Sarajevo in 2015. Photo by Amel Emric / AP file via NBC News
Binghamton University
Falling for clickbait is easy these days, especially for those who mainly get their news through social media. Have you ever noticed your feed littered with articles that look alike?
Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the spread of mass-produced contextually relevant articles and comment-laden social media posts has become so commonplace that it can appear as though it’s coming from different information sources. The resulting “echo chamber” effect could reinforce a person’s existing perspectives, regardless of whether that information is accurate.
A new study involving Binghamton University researchers offers a promising solution: developing an AI system to map out interactions between content and algorithms on digital platforms to reduce the spread of potentially harmful or misleading content. That content can be amplified through engagement-focused algorithms, the study noted, and enable conspiracy theories to spread, especially if the content is emotionally charged or polarizing.
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