We’re smack in the middle of the festive season. Millions are combing online shopping sites for last-minute gifts, but some things are selling out in the blink of an eye.
Increasingly though, it’s not always other people scrambling to nab the vanishing merchandise. The culprits may be computer programs that perform specific, repetitive tasks at breakneck speed, like buying things online en masse to be resold elsewhere at inflated prices.
From online shopping, to ticket sales for concerts and events – and even fake identities that troll social media – these bots have made headlines in 2017. They’ll continue to seep into our lives in myriad ways next year, too. They can be a scourge. But can they also be a force for good?
Shopper nightmare
One way bots have disrupted our lives – and wallets – has been in online shopping.
“Fingerlings” – tiny, brightly-coloured plastic baby monkeys that wrap around your finger – are one of the most sought-after toys of 2017. They usually cost $15 each. But US retailers have been selling out quickly, and those must-have mini monkeys end up on auction sites like eBay at large mark-ups – most going for around $20 to $60, but the New York Times reported one case of $5,000.
While there’s no sure-fire way to say with absolute certainty that a bot’s to blame for your go-to gift selling out, you can usually tell when a non-human ne’er-do-well is the culprit.
Pull: In a mere second, a bot can scan retail sites hundreds of times, find a product and completely drain a retailer of its entire stock
That’s because how bots work: in a mere second, a bot can scan retail sites hundreds of times, find a product, instantly enter information like size and payment details, and completely drain a retailer of its entire stock. There is human involvement, though: a human programmer is required to predict URLs and product codes for sought-after sales items, so that the bot will have a head start over a human as soon the product goes live. Bots are constantly scanning for products to be relisted online, so the cycle can continue once stock is replenished.
It’s not all products, though. Bots only really target highly anticipated or popular products that their creators know have a very limited supply, that can be re-sold for much more, straight away, on third-party or auction sites. Certain brands of streetwear such as Supreme or Kanye West’s Yeezy trainers are prime targets, since they “drop” – are released – only on certain dates, to outsized global demand.
This holiday season, other products besides Fingerlings that bots may be collecting and reselling at high prices include Nintendo’s SNES Classic Edition and the Barbie Hello Dreamhouse.
The new scalping
Bots also targeted the sale of concert and event tickets – the purchase of which is already a competitive and cutthroat process. In the UK, fans have seen tickets to shows like Ed Sheeran and Adele, as well as the theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, sell out in minutes and reappear for thousands of pounds on resale websites like StubHub and Viagogo.
That’s why some of the biggest acts in the business are paying attention. Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift – two artists who boast some of the largest and most loyal fan bases – have taken action to fight scalpers and ticket bots. They know it’s become harder for real people to actually buy tickets, so they’ve turned to software that attempts to verify and vet actual human fans.
Governments are trying to keep up with the technology and protect consumers. In the UK and US, there have been efforts to crack down on ticket-grabbing bots, seeking to make illegal this type of use of AI.
But bots don’t just interfere with your spending habits. You’ve likely encountered them elsewhere on the internet, too.
Social media takeover
Bots have also been blamed for their negative role in politics. Posing as real humans on Facebook or Twitter, bots are programmed to rapidly retweet political hashtags, for example, or to constantly post fake news stories that push certain agendas and propaganda. Most notably, it has been widely reported that social media bots were used to meddle with the 2016 US presidential election.
Political bots have snuck their way into our social media habits steadily since around 2012, says Lisa-Maria Neudert, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute. Neudert studies the social science of the internet, and how digital media intersects with politics and communication. She says that while existing bots have basic functions – simply liking or retweeting or commenting on posts – they’re getting much savvier.
There could soon be “a bot that can be programmed to convince a person of a specific political opinion, behaving exactly like a human over social media,” she says. It could “give you specific arguments or basically present you with a counter argument – it could hold conversations with you potentially without you realising [you’re talking to a bot].”
A force for good?
The AI used by bots to sway political opinions and trick dating hopefuls can cause much damage. But the technology can be a help as well as a hindrance.
More people are welcoming voice-activated assistants like Amazon’s Alexa Microsoft’s Cortana into their homes, and the AI underlying these products is quickly advancing: large tech companies have invited third-party developers to fuelinnovation for these bots to make them more human-like.
“I think the number one use for Alexa is like, ‘play some kind of music’ or ‘Alexa, turn the light on,’” says Neudert. But researchers and developers are currently trying to advance the tech so it can “hold conversations and just become smarter and smarter”.
As bots get faster at completing tasks and better at making decisions, they could help us with our finances, too.
The advantage that comes from the AI is not just speed, but primarily better decision-making than any human can accomplish – Tuomas Sandholm
“In my own work, I have always made it a high priority that the AI programs – sophisticated bots – that we build make the world a better place, not worse,” says Tuomas Sandholm via email, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.
Earlier this year, an AI bot that Sandholm worked on pulled off a historic victory in a 20-day poker marathon against four of the world’s best poker players. Sandholm predicts that AI that can strategise and think critically could eventually lead to smart, helpful bots that could even negotiate the price of a new car.
“The advantage that comes from the AI is not just speed, but primarily better decision-making than any human can accomplish,” Sandholm says.
Neudert agrees it’s not all bad. Bots could help you change the way you spend money – they could be linked to a messaging app on your phone and engage in a conversation with you about your finances. They could track your spending over several months, advise you on ways to improve, and answer questions.
As for now, though, it’s a case of buyer beware this holiday season. Bots are here to stay, and while it’s up to lawmakers to crack down on just how much they’re allowed to infiltrate our lives… they’ve already been through Santa’s sleigh.
To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét