Machines can treat everyday digital traces as psychological test items

Evidence

Today, the digital traces we leave behind allow machines to treat all of our online activity as a ‘test.’ Our Facebook Likes, the words we use in tweets and emails and the images we upload all provide ‘items’ from which the machine can learn who we are, what drives and motivates us and how we differ from each other. Psychometrics is at the forefront of developments in ambient intelligence and the Internet of Things, powering connected environments that are sensitive and responsive to our needs. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2375

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the concept that ordinary online behavior is reframed as test items for machine personality assessment.
• XREF: Echoes Zuboff’s earlier chapters on behavioral surplus — daily activity becoming raw material for prediction. — connects to: Digitized trivia aggregates into surveillable portraits that drive self-monitoring anxiety — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 528; Aggregated digital traces reveal more than individuals intend and prompt greater self-editing — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 638; Most US job applicants face automated personality screening before any human contact — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 228 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Machines could learn human values by observing behavior instead of being programmed #expands (0.80) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 1086