New Scientist - USA (2019-10-05)

(Antfer) #1
5 October 2019 | New Scientist | 3

“ARE we the baddies?” That punchline
from a Mitchell and Webb comedy
sketch about two Nazi soldiers is
something that scientists ought to
ask themselves more frequently. Even
if the knowledge that people create is
neutral, its applications often aren’t.
The potential for misuse often goes
unnoticed until it is too late. Consider a
Facebook app called This Is Your Digital
Life, which gathered information about
users’ personalities. What looked like an
innocuous, even fun, research project
was later used by Cambridge Analytica
to harvest personal data and manipulate
people’s exposure to political messaging
without their knowledge or consent.
Even though the effectiveness of
Cambridge Analytica’s manipulations
has been questioned, this demonstrates
how well-intentioned research

can be hijacked by bad actors.
This is why the pre-emptive steps
being taken by the scientists developing
a technology called multi-agent artificial
intelligence (MAAI) are praiseworthy.
Simulations that use MAAI allow
computer scientists to build detailed
digital models of human societies and
see how decisions would play out in
the real world (see page 38).
Although the technology has
immense potential for good – for

example, it is already being used to find
ways to peacefully integrate refugees
into Western societies – it has equal
potential for bad. Politicians could
use it to do the exact opposite: stoking
anti-immigrant sentiment and violence
for political advantage.
The developers of MAAI are aware
of the potential for misuse – they
actually use the word “evil” – and are
drawing up a code of conduct to prevent
misuse. But self-policing can get us only
so far; the temptation to bend the rules
will prove irresistible to somebody.
What we need is robust debate
about the technology and how it
should and shouldn’t be used. Looking
at UK and US politics at the moment,
however, it isn’t hard to suspect that it
may already be too late to prevent good
science from being misused. ❚

Potential for misuse


We need robust debate about technology that allows people to manipulate others


We can now
simulate in detail
how changes will
affect complex
societies in
the future

GE
TT

Y^ IM

AG

ES

The leader


EDITORIAL
Chief executive Nina Wright
Finance director Jenni Prince
Chief technology officer Chris Corderoy
Marketing director Jo Adams
Human resources Shirley Spencer
HR coordinator Serena Robinson
Facilities manager Ricci Welch
Executive assistant Lorraine Lodge
Receptionist Alice Catling
Non-exec chair Bernard Gray
Senior non-exec director Louise Rogers

MANAGEMENT

CONTACT US
newscientist.com/contact
General & media enquiries
US Tel +1 617 283 3213
210 Broadway #201, Cambridge, MA 02139
UK Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200
25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES
Australia PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
US Newsstand
Tel +1 973 909 5819
Distributed by Time Inc. Retail, a division of Meredith
Corporation, 6 Upper Pond Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054
Syndication
Tribune Content Agency
Tel 1-800-346-8798 Email [email protected]
Subscriptions
newscientist.com/subscribe
Tel 1 888 822 3242
Email [email protected]
Post New Scientist, PO Box 3806, Chesterfield MO 63006-

PUBLISHING & COMMERCIAL
Display advertising
Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1291 Email [email protected]
Commercial director Chris Martin
Display sales manager Justin Viljoen
Lynne Garcia, Bethany Stuart, Henry Vowden,
(ANZ) Richard Holliman
Recruitment advertising
Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1204 Email [email protected]
Recruitment sales manager Mike Black
Nicola Cubeddu, Viren Vadgama,
(US) Jeanne Shapiro
New Scientist Live
Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1245 Email [email protected]
Events director Adrian Newton
Creative director Valerie Jamieson
Event manager Henry Gomm
Sales director Jacqui McCarron
Exhibition sales manager Rosie Bolam
Marketing manager Katie Cappella
Events team support manager Rose Garton
Marketing executive Jessica Lazenby-Murphy
Marketing
Head of campaign marketing James Nicholson
Poppy Lepora
Head of customer experience Emma Robinson
Head of data analytics Tom Tiner
Web development
Maria Moreno Garrido, Tom McQuillan, Amardeep Sian
© 2019 New Scientist Ltd, England. New Scientist ISSN 0262 4079 is
published weekly except for the last week in December by New Scientist Ltd,
England. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387. New Scientist Limited,
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and other mailing offices
Postmaster: Send address changes to New Scientist, PO Box 3806,
Chesterfield, MO 63006-9953, USA.
Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in USA by
Fry Communications Inc, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

Editor Emily Wilson
Executive editor Richard Webb
Creative director Craig Mackie
News
News editor Penny Sarchet
Editors Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell
Reporters (UK) Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page,
Donna Lu, Adam Vaughan, Clare Wilson
(US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte
(Aus) Alice Klein, Ruby Prosser Scully
Digital
Digital editor Conrad Quilty-Harper
Web team Lilian Anekwe, Anne Marie Conlon,
David Stock, Sam Wong
Features
Head of features Catherine de Lange (parental leave)
and Rowan Hooper
Acting head of features Tiffany O’Callaghan
Editors Gilead Amit, Julia Brown,
Kate Douglas, Alison George, Joshua Howgego
Feature writers Daniel Cossins, Graham Lawton
Culture and Community
Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings
Subeditors
Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons
Bethan Ackerley, Tom Campbell, Chris Simms, Jon White
Design
Art editor Kathryn Brazier
Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk
Picture editor Susan Banton
Production
Production manager Alan Blagrove
Robin Burton, Melanie Green
Free download pdf