Jack Dorsey is weighing in on the almighty algorithm.
The former CEO and co-founder of Twitter, now X, Folie to author and financial analyst Lyn Alden on the current state of social media on Tuesday.
“This is going to sound a little crazy, but I think the free speech debate is a complete distraction right now,” Dorsey said.
According to Dorsey, the real debate is about free will.
“We're being programmed based on what we say we're interested in,” Dorsey said. “And we are told through these discovery mechanisms what is interesting.”
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X owner Elon Musk drew attention to Dorsey's comments on Wednesday and publicly agreed with him.
“Yes, @Jack is right,” Musk has written.
yes, @Jack you are right
pic.twitter.com/sIhNIE3QXV— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2024
Studies show that while social media algorithms are intended to increase ad revenue by maximizing user engagement, they also end up reinforcing existing human biases and pushing people deeper into extreme positions.
Dorsey's comments were widely shared, and in some cases questioned, on social media this week.
A user X asked why didn't Dorsey say this earlier when he was in charge of Twitter.
Another suggested completely removing the algorithms that recommend content on social media.
Dorsey DECLARING that he drew attention to these topics while running the platform he co-founded, and that Twitter was the first platform to allow people to opt out of the algorithm — simply by going to the “following” tab instead of the “for you” tab.
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One solution to the algorithm problem, according to Dorsey's interview with Alden, is “an algorithm market.”
Elon Musk (L) and Jack Dorsey (R). Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Dorsey envisioned a future where people have a choice in the algorithm that shapes their food.
This can be something that users build themselves to place on top of an existing social media network. Alternatively, it could be an algorithm they choose and can easily exchange from a party they trust.
Companies like Google and Facebook achieved their value because they solved the problem of how to discover content on the Internet, according to Dorsey.
Connected: Jack Dorsey says the company's artificial intelligence has surpassed Twitter, X
“The public square cannot be owned by a company,” Dorsey said. “The public square, by default, is the Internet.”
According to for Dorsey, the X team is the only one at its level that currently thinks about letting people choose what algorithm they want to use.
I made. we were the first platform to enable people to disable the algorithm.
the next step is to let people choose what algorithm they want to use. not easy btw.
I know team x is thinking about it. and the only ones on the scale to do so.
— jack (@jack) June 6, 2024
Dorsey only follows three people at X — Elon Musk, Edward Snowden and Stella Assange — behind not following over 2000 accounts last month.
He also called X “the technology of freedom“About the same time, declaring Weeks later, corporate models of AI have overtaken it as the “closest form of global consciousness.”