Analysts say social media giants need to feel global pressure

When OpenAI agents gained unauthorised access to the Medicare data portal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was extremely concerned about the privacy breach.

Meta wants users to turn to a cute artificial intelligence (AI) “agent” throughout the day to carry out common tasks for them, such as booking flights or doing their shopping.

Australians are being urged to look beyond the headline and understand how journalism is made as news organisations confront a rapidly changing information landscape dominated by social media algorithms and AI.

It was great getting a sense of the deep ethnographic research Agata has undertaken and the links between digital literacy and digital empowerment. What I took away from the conversation was a sense that the algorithms that drive our feeds are not just code, they have a shape and form that evolves based on our interactions. While I would put myself in an ‘algorithms are bad’ camp, I find more people I speak with saying they like their algorithm, it makes their life easier, they just want it to do its work without all the slop and noise. This is where the business models behind the social media platforms come in and left to their own devices, will serve copy to maximise time on screen through extreme content. Counteracting that with hacks like conscious engagement could change our online experiences for the better.