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The Technology That Actually Runs Our World | The most dominant algorithms aren’t the ones choosing what songs Spotify serves you

The most dominant algorithms aren’t the ones choosing what songs Spotify serves you.

Pinning the blame on new inventions isn’t a fresh argument either: In a 1923 essay, Aldous Huxley pointed to the ease of cultural production, driven by a growing middle-class desire for entertainment, as a major culprit for why mass-market books, movies, and music were so unsatisfying. Early last year, the Department of Justice warned landlords and tenant-screening companies that they aren’t “absolved from liability” if an algorithm they’re using ends up violating fair-housing laws by, say, disproportionately denying people of color a place to live. Last year, President Joe Biden issued an executive order requiring several federal agencies to create a regulatory framework for how they plan to establish guardrails against discrimination when using algorithmically powered systems to, for example, hire contractors or award housing grants.

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