In a world of fake news, Facebook scandals and psychological warfare, mathematician David Sumpter investigates how much influence algorithms truly have over our behaviours.
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David's book "Outnumbered: From Facebook and Google to Fake News and Filter-bubbles – The Algorithms That Control Our Lives" is available now - https://geni.us/qrbsZn
Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/_HU8l8U1BeY
Algorithms permeate our modern lives and analyse our online behaviours constantly, so much so that it's hard to know if you can trust your digital devices and social media accounts.
But just how statistically sound are algorithms like those used by Cambridge Analytica? How well can they really categorise us and influence our behaviours?
David Sumpter is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. His scientific research analyses life across the scales, from the inner workings of fish schools and ant colonies, to analysing passing networks of football teams, to segregation in society, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
This talk and Q&A was filmed in the Ri on 17 May 2018.
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