Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
newyorker.com
Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
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Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#2As much as people (especially here) think that everything can be solved by Big Data/Machine Learning, human experience and intuition are still very important.
No, you can't A/B test your new logo, or the design of your page from scratch.
Big Data can't tell you your product sucks. Option A may be better than Option B but this is in the context of both options (and not considering all other possibilities)
I see companies firehosing every tiny bit of consumer data hoping to be able to make sense of it all and find something there. Meanwhile they're missing whatever their competitor is doing and what their consumers are liking about it.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#3In other realms, we don't call this data but intelligence. Humans will still make the decisions, but in more and more places, the decisions are more likely to be informed by data (intelligence).
Consider that Netflix's data is tiny compared to the amount of data that any government must sift through. Algorithms don't make government decisions, people do. But they (hopefully) base those decisions based on intelligence (some of) which was gathered and filtered by algorithms, then synthesized by humans.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#4I see this argument akin to something along the lines of, "A website is really a human because someone needs to maintain it and make decisions on it's appearance."
You are describing a tool. People don't say hammers are humans, either.
Netflix's special algorithm is indeed an algorithm.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#5I see how netflix's dataset helps them produce an addictive serialized drama like House of Cards. There are many examples to learn from, and the shows are basically built out of a formula.
What I don't see is how this would help you make a critically well received documentary about Nina Simone. Sure, you might be able to predict a lot of people will stream it, but how does that make it well received at Cannes? Nothing in their dataset is telling them about the art of film-making.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#6Hollywood Video's corporate office had a guy, one guy whose job it was to just watch movies. He'd watch them, make sure it was categorized properly, then create associations with other movies that "you might like" if you like this movie, and vice versa. All kept in a spreadsheet that we later plugged in.
We also thought there should be an algorithm, but he was pretty dang good at what he did.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#7This article looks at single point in the industry with regards to automation. But i believe the important point is whether the addition of data provides more efficient movie production, with less failure , and by how much.No need to automate a movie you don't produce.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#8I see how netflix's dataset helps them produce an addictive serialized drama like House of Cards. There are many examples to learn from, and the shows are basically built out of a formula. What I don't see is how this would help you make a critically well received documentary about Nina Simone. Sure, you might be able to predict a lot of people will stream it, but how does that make it well received at Cannes? Nothin…
No, but their data allows filmmakers to gain a better idea of what the consequences of certain decisions are likely to be. It's not so much as allowing algorithms to dictate creative decisions as it is enabling those decisions to be better informed. As for targeting film festivals in particular, I've no doubt that Netflix has sufficient data to look at sort of festival-goers (and those like them) in particular. While it can't provide a guaranteed formula for festival success, it should still give a filmmaker another tool that helps them do their work.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#9>Even Google, the champion of algorithms, employs substantial human adjustments to make its search engines perform just right.
The author doesn't have a solid grasp on machine learning.
The 'human adjustments' provide feedback to the algorithm, which the algorithm then uses to update and improve performance. His tone implies its a bad thing to use human feedback.
Re: Netflix’s Secret Special Algorithm Is a Human
#10>Even Google, the champion of algorithms, employs substantial human adjustments to make its search engines perform just right. The author doesn't have a solid grasp on machine learning. The 'human adjustments' provide feedback to the algorithm, which the algorithm then uses to update and improve performance. His tone implies its a bad thing to use human feedback.
Ideally, it would be a completely automated system. You don't need to understand machine learning to know that it would be better for the computer to do everything itself without human intervention