For the most part, people tend to think of artificial intelligence as something futuristic, like robots, ChatGPT, or self-driving cars. But the strange thing that I found out during our research lab is that most people are already utilizing artificial intelligence every single day without even realizing it. It is just running in the background of the apps that we use on a daily basis.
One of the things that really caught my attention is the music streaming services that we all use, like Spotify. The playlists that we get from Spotify, like Discover Weekly or Daily Mix, are not random. They are generated based on our listening habits compared to millions of users across the platform. In a way, artificial intelligence is dictating the type of music that we will probably listen to without even realizing it.
The ethical issue that really stood out to me is the fact that this influence can be so invisible. When AI systems are making decisions for us, for instance, the type of music or news that we are exposed to, they can, without our knowledge, influence our preferences, as well as our worldview. The biggest surprise for me during my research was the fact that the influence of AI can be so invisible. Sometimes, AI does not necessarily feel like “technology making decisions.” Sometimes, it feels as though the app somehow knows you really well.
Another thing that I learned from the research lab is the fact that the way you talk to the AI can really matter. One of the very helpful techniques for interacting with large language models is the fact that you can give them context. Instead of asking vague questions, giving them specific prompts can really work for you.
AI is becoming part of everyday life often quietly in the background. The more we understand how it works, the better we can decide how much influence we want it to have.
Source
MIT Technology Review. “How Recommendation Algorithms Work.”
Spotify Engineering. “How Discover Weekly Works.”
Your post relates to my discussion because we both show how AI is already shaping everyday life, often without people noticing. You focus on invisible influence through apps like music streaming and how AI can affect preferences, while my post focuses more on the ethical risks of facial recognition such as bias, privacy, and real-world consequences. Together, they highlight the importance of understanding AI’s growing role and impact.
That’s a good point that you found, that Spotify uses AI to shuffle songs to your liking. I also agree that using specific prompts could produce better responses.
I like how you said at times it doesn’t seem like AI is a technology making the decisions but rather just a regular app that knows you well. I think that goes to show just how much reliance we may have on AI and how it might be slowly building great influence in our lives. So I wonder how we can all be more conscious about this and continue to keep in the back of our minds how AI doesn’t inherently know us 100% but rather feeds to us what we give it and many at times tells us what we want to hear.
I liked the influence aspect you touched upon. That’s similar to what we talked about with algorithmic data and how scrolling can influence new findings. It’s interesting to see the ways that algorithmic data causes humans to scroll on there phones while finding similar content.
This is a good thought
I’ve never thought before Ai being connected to Spotify even when I use it daily, that is an awesome thought, thank you for sharing.