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Features

The algorithm myth: why the bots won't take over

The psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer on how to stay ahead of the algorithms

19 February 2022

9:00 AM

19 February 2022

9:00 AM

Google once believed it could use algorithms to track pandemics. People with flu would search for flu-related information, it reasoned, giving the tech giant instant knowledge of the disease’s prevalence. Google Flu Trends (GFT) would merge this information with flu tracking data to create algorithms that could predict the disease’s trajectory weeks before governments’ own estimates.

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