The Wall Street Journal ran an intriguing story last month about Netflix’s management overriding recommendations coming from the company’s algorithms. Analysis showed that promotions for the comedy “Grace and Frankie” were more successful when they only featured one of the two stars of the show. Apparently fearful of alienating one of their stars, Netflix’s management […]
OpenAI bots beat top players in multiplayer video game
A team of AI bots created by OpenAI, a non-profit AI research company co-founded by Elon Musk, have beaten former professional Dota 2 players. It’s only been a few months since the bots were losing to amateur players. Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) where two teams of five players compete […]
How does data science make you faster, smarter, cooler or richer?
In a recent interview, Cameron Davies, head of corporate decision sciences for NBCUniversal, discussed the importance of data science being led by the needs of the business. He discussed “data culture” and the tendency for data scientists to focus on the technology while losing sight of the wider context. Davies points out that decision-makers want […]
Game theory and the evolution of trust
Trust seems to be a rare commodity these days. Game theory helps us understand how distrust grows within a society and—encouragingly—suggest ways in which we might stop the rot. Nicky Case has brought this dry subject matter to life via a wonderful interactive description of how (dis)trust evolves. It’s about 30 minutes long. Just play […]
Game theory and the Trump dossier
Security expert Bruce Schneier believes that a game-theoretic assessment of whether to release the Trump dossier supports release—regardless of your political affiliation or whether you believe the contents. That’s the thing with formal analysis—it clarifies the situation and, sometimes, results in a trivial decision-making process.