Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has opened up about how AI (artificial intelligence) influences what people see in their social media feeds.
The platform has revealed more detail about how AI systems rank content for Feed, Reels and Stories.
Former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, president, global affairs at Meta, says people are both excited by the possibilities and concerned about the risks of AI.
"We believe that the best way to respond to those concerns is with openness," he says.
"Generally speaking, we believe that as these technologies are developed, companies should be more open about how their systems work and collaborate openly across industry, government and civil society to ensure they are developed responsibly.”
Clegg says AI systems predict how valuable a piece of content might be to an individual.
Sharing a post is often an indicator that someone found that post to be interesting, so predicting that someone will share a post is one factor systems take into account.
However, no single prediction is a perfect gauge of whether a post is valuable to someone.
So Meta uses a variety of predictions in combination to get as close as possible to the right content, including some based on behavior and some based on user feedback received through surveys.
Meta is releasing 22 system cards for Facebook and Instagram. They give information about how AI systems rank content, some of the predictions each system makes to determine what content might be most relevant to a user, as well as the controls that can used to help customise the experience.
These cover Feed, Stories, Reels and other surfaces where people go to find content from the accounts or people they follow.
The system cards also cover AI systems that recommend “unconnected” content from people, groups, or accounts they don’t follow. A more detailed explanation of the AI behind content recommendations is here.
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