The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Constructive Communication (CCC), based at the MIT Media Lab, along with Cortico and Project Liberty, recently launched an ambitious effort to develop and deploy technologies and methods to build new models for more trusted and less toxic social networks. To achieve this, CCC brings together researchers in Artificial Intelligence (AI), computational social science, digital interactive design, and learning technologies with software engineers, journalists, political scientists, designers, and community organizers.
The various projects will include new forms of decentralized social network designs, including the open-source Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) released by Project Liberty in 2021 and the development of AI-powered sensemaking tools for community listening and hardware to integrate real-life conversations with digital networks. The initiative aims to provide healthier alternatives to the current social media platforms controlled by dominant tech companies.
“With growing evidence that social media is weakening our social fabric and threatening our democracy, it’s critical that we find new ways forward,” said CCC Director Deb Roy, MIT Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and Co-founder and CEO of Cortico. “While we acknowledge that whatever new platform we develop won’t be able to compete with social media platforms for entertainment value, they can provide alternative, scalable spaces for trusted and civil public discourse that is so critical for rebuilding a healthy democracy.”
The initiative, which attracted $21 million in funding from philanthropic individuals and organizations and a foundational gift from Project Liberty, will advance CCC’s research in sensemaking, machine learning, and digital design. Cortico will work with CCC to develop prototypes for scalable solutions. Research is based at the MIT’s Media Lab in collaboration with the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.
“This effort will draw on MIT’s strong cross-disciplinary research tradition to address the increasingly divisive nature of today’s social media culture. I look forward to seeing how this collaboration’s in-depth research on AI, sensemaking, machine learning, and digital design will come together to help create more trusted social networks that will foster more meaningful and constructive dialogues,” said Maria T. Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Vice President for Research at MIT, and the first woman to lead a NASA planetary mission.
In addition to support from Project Liberty, the collaboration between researchers at MIT and Cortico is supported by Reid Hoffman, the Quadrivium Foundation, Yat Siu, the Knight Foundation, and Ray Chambers/MCJ Amelior Foundation.
“If we do this right, the dominance of a few Goliathan social media platforms will give way to a thousand Davids that support healthier digital communities and serve society at large,” said Frank McCourt, Founder and Executive Chairman of Project Liberty.
“We at Project Liberty are committed to developing and delivering cutting-edge technology designed for the public good and helping to build an Internet that puts people over platforms and enables constructive civil discourse,” said Martina Larkin, CEO of Project Liberty. She emphasizes how the work and collaboration between MIT’s CCC, Cortico, and Project Liberty will be critical to advancing such efforts.
Project Liberty’s vision and goal are to accelerate the world’s transition to an open, inclusive data economy that empowers people over platforms by working to mobilize the foundation of a new Internet for the common good. Project Liberty is committed to building a global alliance for responsible technology while bringing together technologists, academics, policymakers, civil society, and citizens with the shared intention of building a safer, healthier tech ecosystem.