Welcome to the 39th edition of Hold the Code. In this edition, we touch on AI educators in schools and algorithms that could possibly help prevent the next pandemic. Our weekly feature tackles Elon Musk's recent board takeover of Twitter and the potential implications behind a new "free" Twitter.
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AI Educators Assist Students with Disabilities
February 2021. Rachel Ricci received a QTRobot for her 10-year-old son Caden, who was diagnosed with autism back when he was 3 years old. For 30 minutes, 5 days a week, Caden plays with QTRobot, his new friend and teacher who works to help him develop his social skills. During a time when schools closed and access to therapists dropped because of the pandemic, QTRobot continued to help Caden build his confidence and skills.
Good help that’s tough to get
The QTRobot is one of the many AI tools developed recently to assist students with disabilities at home and in the classroom. These robots can act as translators, social buddies, and personalized teachers, amongst many other uses.
These human-like (but distinguishably not human) helpers may provide some students with disabilities a more comfortable way to interact with a “buddy”. However, these versatile AI education tools have their own accessibility problems. For example, a QTRobot costs a whopping $2,000 plus a $129 monthly software subscription.
Could and should AI take over education?
Although AI can assist students with disabilities in numerous ways, the goal is not for them to become caretakers and teachers. Instead, AI should be a tool that enables these students to interact with people in a “more substantial way”, said Brian Scassellati, a professor of computer science at Yale who developed one of these educational robots.
AI should act as assistants to parents and teachers, not replacements. As technology advances at lightning speed, “what we really need are more teachers, aids, and a high-quality curriculum”, said Jordan Adcock, fifth-grade teacher and parent of a son with autism.
Algorithms Against Infectious Diseases
With the events of the past few years, namely the huge pandemic that has recently shut down all normal life for multiple months, healthcare has become a very hot topic. We are more aware than ever of the way that we interact with the world of colds, flus, germs, bacterias and even potentially catastrophic viruses, and this has led to a focus on the way that technology- in particular, Artificial Intelligence- could help with the current pandemic and work to prevent more in the future.
The Power of Data
One of the most important features of AI, found almost everywhere when looking at algorithms, is its ability to take in huge quantities of information and parse out a pattern much faster and with more success than a human. Using these abilities, developers have been looking into creating disease-fighting AI that takes advantage of those skills:
Rapid identification of illness - AI would be able to identify the symptoms of a disease within a person potentially faster than a human
Care needs - AI would make decisions about who requires the most care, in terms of medicine or breathing machines, letting doctors know who is in a state of emergency
Contact tracing - AI could help identify sources of outbreaks and facilitate alerting the public about potential outbreaks
Controlling via policies - AI would help enforce policies such as masks and social distancing with facial recognition software
After all, if we are going to prevent another pandemic from happening, we’re going to need some allies against the world of viruses.
Weekly Feature: Twitter's Algorithms and Politics
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has agreed to a $44bn takeover with the board of Twitter. What does this mean for Twitter going forward? In addition to changing Twitter’s rules for free speech, Elon Musk declared:
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans"
Unfettered Free Speech
Musk is a big proponent of absolute free speech. In a statement announcing the deal with Twitter, Musk said the following:
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter”
The move to less restricted free speech holds some political connotation. Both the left and the right have called for the meditation of misinformation on Twitter. One notable example of such mediation is the banning of former President, Donald Trump, for citing the risk of an "incitement of violence". With Musk’s purchase of Twitter, some are worried about the consequences that greater free speech will have on the spreading of misinformation, which can be used for political manipulation.
By the end of 2021, Twitter had 217 million daily global users. This makes the app a significant influence on many people’s information about world events, such as climate change. BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin says scientists are nervous about the potential impact of the takeover on the climate debate. Prior to Twitter’s takeover, the company had stated that it would ban advertisements that contradict scientific consensus. Will this stance change with a move to greater free speech and what are the possible impacts of this move for other world issues?
Algorithms and Bias
In practice, a move to absolute free speech will require changes to be made to Twitter algorithm - the algorithm used to decide what appears on your Twitter feed and what is deemed to be breaking the Twitter guidelines. The way in which the algorithm is changed may have political significance. Now that Twitter is going private, Musk will have control over the algorithm - will he push a political agenda by churning out more of the content that he supports onto all our Twitter feeds? To combat this fear, Musk has pledged to make the new Twitter algorithm public. This means that anyone can read it, creating some checks and balances to prevent Musk from abusing his power through the code.
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Written by Larina Chen, Hope McKnight, and Jake Connell.
Edited by Dwayne Morgan