An algorithm off switch isn’t enough. Big tech needs a duty of care over addictive designs | Zoe Daniel
TL;DR
As AI advances minute by minute and governments grapple with new developments they don’t know how to manage, holding big tech accountable becomes even more urgent A digital duty of care is about a lot more than opting out of “the algorithm”. And after the simplistic and at best patchy exercise of the under-16s social media ban, we shouldn’t let the government get away with another populist policy that looks good on the surface but doesn’t get to the core of the problem.
Nauti's Take
A duty of care beats one off bans, and the potential upside is that platforms have to design harm out rather than moderate it away after the fact. The open question is enforcement, since nobody has agreed what counts as addictive design or how auditors inspect ranking systems they cannot see.
Product teams should start documenting engagement metrics beyond time on site now, instead of improvising in front of a regulator later.
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