Etha is on the verge of changing the way we interact with media and politics. It is a platform by the people for the people which promotes political transparency and journalistic accountability to the public.
How is it we do this? As an unbiased medium, we crowdsource news and provide unfiltered, real-time analytics on current political events. Our platform conveys an honest public perspective, rather than the agenda of wealthy partisans.
Behind every great endeavor is a team of dedicated innovators with the drive and desire to make that change a reality. Etha’s team includes professionals from across various industries all united for the core mission of socio-political change. As we prepare for the next steps in the company and sthe platform’s realization, we invited some of the brilliant minds behind Etha to elaborate on their role and vision.
A key to what makes Etha unique is its integration of AI to better analyze online discourse and misinformation. Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Aastik Saini elaborated on how AI is created and implemented with Etha. His background on the core team of four different start ups, cloud computing, and AR-VR prepared him for this role at Etha.
What is AI?
As our societies become increasingly saturated with technology it's important to understand the innovative ways in which these systems work. More than just tech, AI-powered smart technology is increasing its presence - whether it is a smart refrigerator in the kitchen or Siri on an Apple Watch.
Though what is AI exactly and what are some of the main pillars behind the technology?
Quite simply, artificial intelligence (AI) “ is a way to help computers make sense of things that they wouldn’t have otherwise and learn from it,” says Aastik. In other words, AI learns from “previous data and patterns to understand what can be. It is a way smart computers learn from different inputs.”
There are four primary subsets of AI which include: reactive machines, limited memory, theory of mind, and self-awareness. Each one involves a different type of interaction with smart technology, the data, and its given environment. Self-awareness being the ultimate higher state for a smart machine.
Sample AI use cases
AI use cases are actually more common than one may think, and only increasingly so. In fact, AI is integrated in some services which billions of people use on a daily basis.
Most notably smart assistants like the leading ladies Siri and Alexa are both based on artificial intelligence technology. Moreover, Netflix recommendations and spam filters are also AI-based.
Difference between machine learning and AI
It’s important to note however, that AI and machine learning are two similar but different operations. Aastik explained that machine learning methods follow a more generic route of supervised learning.*
*“It’s where we have a data set and we teach the whole algorithm what it has to look out for. For example if I’m looking at pictures of cats, the algorithm should look out for ears that look like cat ears, eyes that look like cat eyes, and noses that look like cat noses.
In an AI model, I would have to just specify that is a picture of a cat and this is not a picture of a cat. From there I give it to the model, teach it about the images, give it 200, 300 images. Then it learns which pictures would be cats and not be cats on its own. In an ML model, I’d have to specify those different patterns.”
How is AI integrated into Etha?
As far as Etha is concerned, AI is one of the most critical elements to the product. Etha uses AI as the primary mode for distinguishing information and helping to determine biases, fake news, and more.
“We follow a very different route for things,” says Aastik. “The AI that we have curates news articles across various media outlets and runs a sentiment analysis on it which understands what kind of narratives and biases they’re putting out.”
“Based on that we try to understand how people are reacting to certain narratives, which gives us better insight as to what the general consensus or option to a certain idea, topic, issue, event or politician is. We try to find a balance. When we find a disruption in the balance, some news article which could be a possible source of misinformation, we pinpoint it and investigate it further.”
Why is AI integral to Etha? (Aastik answer)
The primary purposes of Etha reveals biases in media for the purpose of accountability and facilitation of constructive discourse. In order to do this, AI is integral. There is no Etha in the way the team envisions, without a properly developed and trained AI core.
A major advantage of working with machines is the lack of bias, Aastik says. “AI itself has no bias. It learns what the people are feeding it in order to understand how people respond towards certain topics, issues, events, policies, or politicians. The AI will learn those patterns and to avoid having an influx of the AI leaning to any side, for AI to maintain its neutral standpoint, we use certain algorithms which help the AI not learn those extreme political patterns and stay unbiased and neutral in the long run.”
For this reason, AI is integral for the promotion of a healthy, thriving community on both the Etha platform and in public discourse.
“To help keep it clean. To identify constructive conversations and deconstructive conversations. With it, we can better analyze people’s sentiments towards politicians and hold those politicians accountable for the deliverable they have promised or the things they are speaking to in the public and how it affects everything.”
The future is AI - but don’t be scared!
Artificial intelligence is a buzzword these days. It increasingly shows up in the media and sometimes under false colors. “The media has portrayed AI to be somewhat of a sentient being,” Aastik said, “which is not the case. AI is very simple. Most AIs are developed to do one specific thing very well, as good as a human even. When you put all of them together in a constructive manner, there’s nothing to worry about.”
In fact, AI isn’t something new and terrifying. It has been a part of our lives for decades and both the humans creating it and it itself are becoming more efficient.
“AI is the future, AI is the past. The current conventional AI we’ve been using since the early 2000s in different areas. It is only now where we can fully utilize those algorithms and develop AI that can do things. The future holds a lot of possibilities and if used in the right way, AI can help change lives.”
Why Etha?
Etha has a team dedicated to the mission of truth and transparency in the media. For team members like Aastik, Etha is also about using this intricate technology for the overall betterment of humanity.
“That’s why Etha, because we’re trying to solve an issue that has become critical.”
Join us!
Aastik is one of many like minded innovators behind the vision of Etha. We are a collective with a vision to change the reality of media and political relationships. As we prepare to take this platform into the future, we want you to join us.
Stay up to date on the latest Etha updates and download the app on Apple or Android devices to experience the beginning of the future.