Humans and algorithms work together — so study them together

Matias, J. Nathan

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Adaptive algorithms have been linked to terrorist attacks and beneficial social movements. Governing them requires new science on collective human–algorithm behaviour.

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  1. J. Nathan Matias

    1. J. Nathan Matias is an assistant professor at the Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, and a 2022–23 fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

The Twitter logo is seen on a handheld mobile device with the YouTube logo displayed on a screen in the background.

YouTube and Twitter both use adaptive algorithms that recommend videos or suggest accounts to follow. Credit: NurPhoto via Getty

Later this year, the US Supreme Court will rule on a case with profound implications for society and technology. The case centres on Nohemi Gonzalez, a US student who in 2015 was shot and killed by the Islamist terrorist group ISIS in Paris. Her father claims in the suit that Google, which owns the video platform YouTube, should be held responsible for permitting the platform’s recommender algorithms to promote content that radicalized the terrorists who killed Gonzalez. The final ruling, expected by the end of June, could make digital platforms liable for their algorithms’ recommendations.

Nature 617, 248-251 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01521-z

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Competing Interests

J.N.M. is an unpaid adviser to the National Internet Observatory, which is a research project at Northeastern University, and an unpaid member of the executive committee of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, which coordinates support for researchers who carry out industry-independent research on technology and society.

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