View source for Seminar 16: Uses and abuses of AI in election campaigns

* Alistair Knott: [[Media:ai-and-elections.pdf | Uses and abuses of AI in election campaigns]]

== Michal Kosinski's model predicting personality from Facebook Likes ==

* The original article: Youyou, W., Kosinski, M. and Stillwell, D. [http://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1036.full Computer-based personality judgments are more accurate than those made by humans]

* An [https://applymagicsauce.com/demo.html online demo] (includes prediction from free text, as well as from a Facebook page)

== Some relevant articles ==

* Carole Cadwalladr's Observer article: (Feb 27 2017): [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media]

* Motherboard article (Jan 29 2017): [https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win The Data That Turned the World Upside Down]

* Alexander Nix' talk at the Concordia Summit (Sep 19-20 2016): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Dd5aVXLCc The power of big data and psychographics]
 
* Scout article (undated): [https://www.scout.ai/story/the-rise-of-the-weaponized-ai-propaganda-machine The Rise of the Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine]

* Institutional investor article on Renaissance and Mercer (Dec 13 2016): [http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/3646526/asset-management-hedge-funds-and-alternatives/robert-mercers-trade-of-the-century.html?ArticleId=3646526&single=true#.WL8qNBJ96L8 Robert Mercer's trade of the century]

* Observer article (4 March 2017): [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/04/nigel-oakes-cambridge-analytica-what-role-brexit-trump Did Cambridge Analytica influence the Brexit vote and the US election?]

* Washington Post article voicing skepticism about the uniqueness of Cambridge Analytica's methods (6 March 2017): [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/06/guys-its-starting-to-seem-like-maybe-there-isnt-a-magic-bullet-for-winning-campaigns/?utm_term=.fb987dc1e7e7 Guys, it’s starting to seem like maybe there isn’t a magic bullet for winning campaigns]

* A similarly skeptical article from the New York Times (6 March 2017): [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/us/politics/cambridge-analytica.html?_r=0 Data Firm Says ‘Secret Sauce’ Aided Trump; Many Scoff]

* Guardian article about Cambridge Analytica's work for the Ted Cruz campaign (11 Dec 2015) [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/11/senator-ted-cruz-president-campaign-facebook-user-data Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users]

* An earlier skeptical article from Advertising Age (Aug 8 2016): [http://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/cambridge-analytica-toast/305439/ In D.C., Cambridge Analytica Not Exactly Toast of the Town]

* A Spectator article equivocating about Cambridge Analytica's claims (Dec 3 2016): [http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/the-british-data-crunchers-who-say-they-helped-donald-trump-to-win/ The British data-crunchers who say they helped Donald Trump to win]

* An article from Zerohedge about the departure of David Magerman from Renaissance (Feb 24 2017): [http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-23/mutiny-breaks-out-inside-worlds-most-successful-hedge-fund-over-donald-trump Mutiny Breaks Out Inside The World's Most Successful Hedge Fund Over Donald Trump]

* New Scientist article about the role of Twitter Bots in the Brexit vote (21 June 2016): [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2094629-beware-the-brexit-bots-the-twitter-spam-out-to-swing-your-vote/ Beware the Brexit bots: The Twitter spam out to swing your vote]

* Bloomberg article on Renaissance Technologies' amazingly profitable hedge fund (21 Nov 2016): [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-21/how-renaissance-s-medallion-fund-became-finance-s-blackest-box Inside a Moneymaking Machine Like No Other]

== Useful research groups ==

* The multi-university [http://politicalbots.org/ Project on Algorithms, Computational Propaganda, and Digital Politics] (University of Washington, Central European University, University of Oxford)

* The related [http://philhoward.org/projects/computational/ Computational Propaganda Project] at Oxford University