Amazon to spend $2.5M on university competition to build “socialbot”

 If you need an Uber, Amazon Alexa has your back. Unfortunately if what you need is a conversation buddy, the personal assistant isn't quite up to the task. In an effort to bolster Alexa's social intelligence, Amazon is putting $2.5 million into a new university competition to design and build “socialbots” for the platform. Engineers will use the Alexa Skills Kit to… Read More

What it means to have our political debates on social media

Social media has become one of the biggest frameworks for our political conversations, for better or worse. Left unchecked, it can lend too much power to the opinionated and agenda-pushing.

While platforms like Facebook and Twitter give us new voices to speak out with, they allow us to drown out opposing ideas with dangerous ease. Even within our own circles, social media tends to benefit the extreme voices over the more moderate ones.

What can we do? This We The Voters short film has some ideas. Read things you disagree with, and retweet with care. When everyone can contribute on social media, we all have some responsibility. Read more...

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