Just like steam engines and electricity, artificial intelligence is reshaping our world. The improvement of computing power, the accumulation of data and the progress of algorithms make artificial intelligence one of the most strategic technologies in this century. There is no doubt that algorithms based on artificial intelligence are changing our world. It is impossible to use "revolution" to describe this profound change. It is seen that Wall Street is no longer a financier's world, and algorithms control 70% of transactions; The danger of criminal suspects is no longer simply judged by judges and experts, and algorithms play an important role in it; The algorithm is also used to determine who can get the interview opportunity, who can get the loan, how much the loan is, what kind of content is pushed to what kind of people in what scenarios

Obviously, algorithms are increasingly powerfully supporting the personalized, customized and intelligent movement of the whole world. The reason why this movement is possible is that algorithms can transform people's behavior, conversation, shopping, location, as well as your blood pressure, heartbeat and other large data into states, attributes Needs and even emotions, scoring, evaluation and prediction. The secret of the algorithm is that it can rely on the input and analysis of big data to form faster, more real-time, more sensitive and more optimized predictions than human beings, as well as decisions and services based on this, thus bringing more "automatic" responses, more convenient services, more interesting and immersive content production Distribution and provision.

The rise of algorithms is bound to be a major change to the traditional order and pattern. A series of phenomena and consequences brought about by algorithms have also led to people's natural discussions, anxiety and even outright criticism. For example, its "understanding" of value logic is more inclined to market logic and user experience, while it lacks attention to social logic and ethical requirements; It has created the magic of being good-looking, fun, immersing and even hard to extricate oneself. On the one hand, it has occupied more and more people's life time and rest time. More importantly, it attracts people's energy and attention to the triviality of "chicken feathers in one place" and the virtual world and ignores the more important people and things in social life, All of them make us take them seriously and think seriously.

It must be pointed out that despite the above phenomena and problems, we cannot and should not treat algorithms and new functions, services and products based on algorithms in a simple and crude way, such as the popular algorithmic content distribution, and network products that are prone to immersion. The emergence of intelligent algorithms and the emergence of immersive products are inevitable in the development of the Internet era. It is absurd and ridiculous to reject algorithms, just as people rejected steam engines, textile machines, trains and cars in the early days of the industrial revolution. Take the field of communication as an example. Today, when everyone is a communicator, the share of professional content production in the traditional sense has long been a "drop in the ocean" in the tide of massive content in the Internet era. If we only use the traditional means of manual editing to deal with it, I'm afraid that most of the content cannot be effectively processed and distributed, The huge value released by the Internet as an advanced content productivity will be in a state of vacancy, people's iterative upgrading of content consumption will not be realized, the increasingly active long tail market and niche market will not be effectively developed and utilized, and the "capillaries" of social life will not be activated and nourished, The progress of civilization will be seriously hindered.

The algorithm is not a scourge, and the communication products with good immersion are by no means equal to white powder ecstasy. The correct way to open the question is: how do we implant values for algorithms, and how do we add intervention and reminder mechanisms to algorithmic products that are prone to immersion. In other words, we should embrace the algorithm revolution triggered by artificial intelligence, build a people-oriented strategy for the development of artificial intelligence based algorithms, emphasize the values of intelligent algorithms, implant necessary intervention mechanisms for immersive products, and ensure their development in the direction beneficial to individuals and society. The author believes that this strategy should include three pillars:

First, let intelligent algorithms enter all aspects of our lives, develop China's technological and industrial capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence algorithms, and promote the all-round penetration of artificial intelligence technology into the whole economy, society, politics, culture and other fields - not only new media enterprises on the Internet, but also public sectors such as government and schools. Because only the all-round participation of all parties in society can create the interaction and cooperation of multiple value logics. The implantation of social values must be incomplete by the efforts of Internet enterprises alone.

The second is to pay attention to the education of scientific and technological literacy and new media literacy of the whole people in the era of artificial intelligence algorithm, and to meet the transformation of social economy, culture and life with a more benign social and cultural preparation. This requires us to keep the education and training system up to date, closely monitor new changes in users and the labor market, popularize new media knowledge, and cultivate new talents. In the current transition period, it is necessary to issue relevant social guidelines and other popular books, and establish necessary social intervention and security systems.

The third is to ensure that the country has an ethical and legal framework suitable for the development and application of AI, including clarifying the application of product responsibility rules for algorithmic services and immersive products, in-depth studying new challenges and new problems brought about by AI technology, and promoting exchanges and cooperation among stakeholders through the coordination of national forces, social forces and Internet enterprises, So as to formulate the ethical guidelines for AI based algorithm services and immersive products.

Finally, in the words of Christopher Steiner, the author of The Empire of Algorithms, we will face the task of how to draw the boundary between utility and threat in the future development. The story of the next 20 years is the story of artificial intelligence algorithms and big data, and the outcome of this story will depend on how to draw these boundaries and by whom. In any case, in the era when artificial intelligence and algorithm systems are increasingly replacing human beings to make various decisions, it is crucial for us to design mechanisms in terms of verification, validation, informed consent, transparency, accountability, relief, responsibility, etc.

(Author: Yu Guoming, Distinguished Professor of Changjiang Scholar, Ministry of Education, Executive Dean of School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University)

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