Category Archives: Analytics

This was one of the first things I learned and is pretty much my go-to.

Select Quotes:

11:20 “Professor Chris Reed is working with the BBC on reason-checking tools, to supplement fact-checking, using AI techniques known as ‘argument technology’.” Select quotes below.

11:59 “And by argument we don’t mean row [squabble]. We mean a reasoned series of steps drawing to a conclusion”

12:36 “It brings together the facts, history, and context which are crucial for a clear picture. And it could highlight key facts during political debates.”

13:52 “Once we’ve got this ability to analyze the structure of argument and debate and build up these huge maps of all of the ideas, the bits of evidence, the claims and counterclaims, and how they all interact. The way in which a news organization makes reference to a scientific article. The way in which tweets follow up on that news article. The way in which those tweets are then referred to by other news sources and that whole train is then picked up in a formal discussion in parliament and then reported back into the media. There’s this web of argumentation and debate…”

14:28 “…and that web, if we can make it available to people, if we can surface the arguments and the disagreements and the evidence and indeed the counter-evidence, then perhaps we can start to tackle some of these deep societal issues like misinformation and fake news”

15:25 “Imagine if your computer had an automatic reason-checker, alongside the spell-checker. It could help you construct stronger arguments and see things from other perspectives.”

16:03 “Like fact-checkers, argument AI is more about clarifying and adding context than proving points right or wrong. When intelligence analysts discuss potential threats, AI could join the conversation, challenging their arguments, to avoid unnecessary conflicts.”

In 2018, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Cathy O’Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. It’ll change the way you look at data. Catch her blog here: https://mathbabe.org/