The Magic of Algorithms
The Magic of Algorithms Ali Rae | Senior Producer, Al Jazeera English
There’s one thing that touches nearly every aspect of our lives - whether you’re using social media, putting in a health insurance claim or online shopping. It’s algorithms. Algorithms are now just as much a part of our modern infrastructure as buildings or roads. So getting to grips with how they work - and to whose benefit - is really important if you want to understand the world we live in today. This is the premise for ‘All Hail The Algorithm’ - presented, produced, filmed and edited by myself, alongside Executive Producer Meenakshi Ravi. It’s dedicated to explaining systems of power in our everyday lives. The series isn’t about explaining the specifics of code or provoking fear that “robots are taking over.” Instead, it’s about the here and now: How are algorithmic systems being built into our lives? How are they working? And what do we need to know so that we can deal with them? The initial inspiration actually came from my own frustrations interacting with Big Tech’s social media algorithms. The feeling that a story’s online reach or viewing numbers are at the whim of a piece of
computer code. Like riding a rollercoaster you can experience highs and lows. As our media landscape becomes increasingly metric-driven, I wanted to understand why we were allowing these invisible codes to hold so much sway over us. In reporting this series, I travelled solo with my camera from Mexico and Kenya to Jordan and Australia, piecing together a picture of algorithms at work across the globe. The aim was to reveal just how much of the development and impact of algorithms takes place in the Global South. While other news outlets do headline interviews with CEOs or prominent spokespersons for tech corporations, we wanted to shine a light on the scholars, activists and tech world insiders who are involved in critiquing, reforming and pushing back against the excesses of an algorithmically powered world. By focusing on common themes across starkly different scenarios - trust, power, manipulation, privacy, consent - the aim was to show that you don’t need to be a tech expert to engage with an understanding of how algorithms are shaping our world. I would say there were at least three key takeaways from the series. First, algorithmic systems aren’t perfect - they are built by fallible humans and are ultimately only as good as the data that feeds them.
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