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Examining Public Perception of Artificial Intelligence in Cyberspace:

Before, During, and After the AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol Competition

Hyoungbo Shim, gudqhek23@skku.edu

Yoo Jung (Jasmine) Hong, yjasmine@skku.edu

Jang Hyun Kim*, alohakim@skku.edu

Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)

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Presentation Overview

• Introduction

• Literature Review

• Research Question

• Method

• Results

• Discussion

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Introduction

Artificial intelligence

“the study of systems that act in a way that to any observer would appear to be intelligent” (Coppin,

2004, p. 4) and “involves using methods based on the intelligent behavior of humans and other

animals to solve complex problems” (Coppin, 2004, p. 4)

In March 2016, there was a drastic increase of awareness and interest in artificial intelligence among

the public

AlphaGo

Computer program created by Google DeepMind to play the game Go; consists of an algorithm that

combines Monte Carlo tree search and neural networks (Silver et al., 2016)

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Trend_‘Artificial intelligence’

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Timeline

Google DeepMind Challenge Match

AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol competition (March 9~15, 2016)

Final score: AlphaGo 4 - Lee Sedol 1

March 9

AlphaGo wins

186th move1 p.m. (KST)

1 p.m. (KST)

March 10 March 12 March 13 March 15

1 p.m. (KST)

AlphaGo wins

211th move

1 p.m. (KST)

AlphaGo wins

176th move Lee Sedol wins

180th move

1 p.m. (KST)

AlphaGo wins

280th move

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Literature Review

Jacques-Ellul’s (1964) The Technological Society

• Ellulian concept of technique: “the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having

absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity”

(Ellul, 1964, p. xxv)

• 7 characteristics of modern technology: rationality, artificiality, automatism, self-

augmentation, monism, universalism, and autonomy (Ellul, 1964)

• Technology is a unified entity with a powerful force that humans do not have control

over; it is also changing humans (Ellul, 1964)

- Although artificial intelligence was initially created for humans to rely on and have

control over, AI has a significant influence on humans (mutual interaction)

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Literature Review

Social constructivism

• “a sociological theory of knowledge that applies the general philosophical constructivism into social settings,

wherein groups construct knowledge for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts

with shared meanings. When one is immersed within a culture of this sort, one is learning all the time about

how to be a part of that culture on many levels” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 56-57)

• In other words, knowledge is created through social interactions

• As of 2016, online media (including social media) is widely used as a communication medium for people to

exchange ideas about a particular topic (i.e. artificial intelligence)

• The present study seeks to examine how artificial intelligence is socially constructed by people online

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Literature Review

Diffusion of innovation theory

Innovation-Decision Process

• “The process through which an individual passes from first knowledge of an innovation, to

forming an attitude toward the innovation, to a decision to adopt or reject, to implementation

of the new idea, and to confirmation of this decision. ”

Communication Channels

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Research Question

How has the public’s perception and social construction of artificial intelligence changed

in cyberspace before, during, and after the AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol competition?

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Semantic network analysis: studies the relationship among words, such as co-

occurrence, frequency and distance (Lee, Kim, & Rosen, 2009)

Data collection & analysis: Python

Data visualization: UCINET (NetDraw) (Borgatti et al., 2002)

Method

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Channel: Naver news

Key word: ‘인공지능’ (‘Artificial Intelligence’)

Data collection period:

1) Before: March 1~31, 2015

2) During: March 9~15, 2016

3) After: March 16~April 17, 2016

Method

Movies and pop culture

Bolumn, Alan, Character

Future, technological advancement of AI

Bigdata, Machine Learning, Autonomous Car

Various AI development and major companies

Google. Apple, Manless

Results: Before (March 9~15, 2016)

Replacing human jobs

Medical Treatment, Robot, Job, Change, SubstituteAI as a threat

Awe, Dangerous, Astounding

Victory and loss: AI as a Go game opponent

Lee-Saedol, Alphago, Loss in a row

Results: During (March 9~15, 2016)

Technological revolution of AI and

investment

Investment, Finance, Stocks, Company

Victory and loss: AI as a Go game

opponent

Lee-Saedol, Alphago, Competiton

Corporate, fundamental technology,

and future prediction

Cloude, Autonomic Driving, Bigdata

Results: After (March 16~April 17, 2016)

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Theoretical implications

Jacques-Ellul’s (1964) concept of technique applies to artificial intelligence, specifically in the case of

AlphaGo

Over time, the significant words that appeared in the networks refer to viewing AI as a potential threat

to humans and a powerful force (i.e. replacing human jobs, ‘domination’, ‘concern’, etc.)

Social constructivism: there was a significant change in social construction of AI over time in cyberspace

1) Before: Less serious content, talking about the future using movie examples � 2) During: AI is

considered a threat (i.e. replacing human jobs), increased interest in the technology regarding AI � 3)

After: Increased interest in AI-related issues (i.e. driverless cars), future technologies, and investment

Discussion

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Theoretical implications

The AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol match raised one step of the stage of innovation decision.

Through the match, public was in the stage of ‘Knowledge’ which public knows and recognizes about AI.(Words of

subject matter of movie and novel are replaced by AI technology words.)

Then with watching the matches, public fell in the stage of ‘Persuasion’ which public forms positive or negative

thoughts in their mind.(Words of replace human job and future technology appear) Now public is getting closer to

the step of ‘Decision’ which public recognize real scenes of future with AI technology. (Words of AI technology and

companies and investment appear)

Discussion

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Practical implications

The online space is useful in gauging public perception of a particular topic during a

specific time frame

With time, only negative perception about artificial intelligence has increased

� Therefore, experts on AI should be more outspoken in cyberspace (as well as other

communication medium) in order to create a more positive sentiment regarding AI for

its future development

Discussion

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Thank you.

Any questions?

Q&A

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Unique Words

Before

Words: ‘채피’(Chappie), ‘게임’(Game), ‘영화’(Movie)

Public considers AI as subject matter of movies or games

During

Words: ‘프로그램’(Program), ‘딥마인드’(Deepmind), ‘생각’(Thought)

Public’s focus changed to AlphaGo and related technologies

After

Words: ‘최근’(Recent), ‘기술’(Technology), ‘발전’(Development)

Public focuses about not only AlphaGo but also AI technologies and

companies

Frequency Table

Movies and pop culture

Chappie, Movie, Jarvis

Future, technological advancement of AI

Future, Deep Mind, Machine Learning

Results: Before (March 9~15, 2016)

Victory and loss: AI as a Go game opponent

Lee-Saedol, Alphago, Competition

Future, technological advancement of AI

Machine learning, ,Future, Deep mind

Replacing human jobs

Job, Enemy, Threat, Substitution

Results: During (March 9~15, 2016)

Victory and loss: AI as a Go game opponent

Lee-Saedol, Alphago, Competition

Lee-Saedol, Alphago, Loss in a row

Technological revolution of AI and

investment

Stock, Value, Money, Support

Corporate, fundamental technology, and

future prediction

Evolution, Autonomic Car, Future, Robot

Results: Before (March 16~April 17, 2016)