In the capitalist sphere, the prevailing purpose of social applications of artificial intelligence is profit. The advent of the Internet, initially fueled by libertarian utopias, soon translated into extraordinary commercial and financial power of a few monopolistic players, able to exert unprecedented control and influence over the population.
In our daily interaction with the web and social media, we are constantly exposed to artificial intelligence applications without the user being aware of them: content rotation in social, search engine results, contextual and personalized advertising messages, social profiles made with Bots (automated systems), promotional suggestions in e-commerce platforms.
These Artificial Intelligence applications are operated by Global Internet Companies, whose purpose-obviously-is purely economic. Thus, they are not specifically geared toward the ethical values of education, culture and democracy. On the contrary, they often produce negative side effects, such as declining critical sense and intellectual quotient itself, or as forms of covert conditioning. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook during the 2016 election became one of the “Trojan horses” used by the Russians to interfere in the campaign in support of Donald Trump.
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