On Twitter’s open-source promise (GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Context:
- Elon Musk has partly delivered on his promise of making Twitter’s algorithm open source.
- On April 1, the micro-blogging site’s recommendation code was made public. Developers can now modify and make improvements to the code.
What does Twitter’s algorithm do?
- At the heart of Twitter’s business model is the recommendation algorithm. It is a set of rules that enables the platform to deliver content based on users’ interests and preferences. It is with the help of this system that advertisers promote their brands.
- Content flows into a user’s timeline through two channels. One pipeline channels content posted by people that the user follows and the other is filled with posts flowing from accounts that could potentially interest the user.
- The latter timeline, called ‘For You’, acts as a predictive tool to suggest feeds that a user may be interested in. It helps Twitter find answers to questions like, what is the probability a user will engage with another user in the future, what communities on Twitter might a user be interested in and what tweets are trending within them.
How does the algorithm work?
- Twitter’s recommendation algorithm runs on a three-step process.
- First, it fetches tweets from multiple recommendation sources. The platform calls this process ‘candidate sourcing’.
- After sourcing these tweets, a machine learning model ranks them. After ranking, tweets are filtered to remove those that a user may have blocked, or has already seen.
- At the sourcing stage, the algorithm mixes tweets that eventually flow into a user’s ‘For You’ timeline.
- To mix, it picks ‘candidates’ from people a user follows, and from those they do not. It calls these two sources as ‘in-network’ and ‘out-network’, and together they make up 50/50 of the mix.
- Twitter says that for each request it attempts to extract the top 1,500 tweets from a pool of hundreds of millions. The in-network part is quite easy to build as information is picked in real-time from people a user follows. But out-network sourcing is trickier as the platform must pick content from candidates the user does not follow.
- To do this, Twitter uses what it calls social graph and embedded spaces. The former creates a stream of candidates based on what content followers of a user engage with. And the latter matches the profile of a user with a cluster that exhibits similar interests and preferences as the user.
- Once this is done, using a 48M parameter neural network that is continuously trained on tweet engagement, the platform starts ranking feeds.
What has been the reaction?
- After Twitter open sourced its recommendation algorithm, many people flocked to GitHub to view the code. Some see this reveal as “a step in the right direction for the future of humanity.”
- Others note that the code does not reveal much about how it is used by the platform. They also highlight that important bits of information have been left out.
- For instance, the absence of information on the data it uses to build these pipelines prevents one from having a complete picture of the platform’s recommendation system.
What was discussed at the UN water conference?
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Why in news?
- The United Nations 2023 Water Conference held on March 22-24 was the first such meeting in 46 years.
- In a recent report entitled ‘Water for Sustainable Development 2018 – 2028’, the UN recognised the urgent need for action to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for water, “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.
What is the water conference?
- The water sector is prone to fragmentation because water problems tend to be local. If a particular lake is polluted or a particular area is often flooded, it needs local solutions. Therefore, there is an inherent problem in mobilising globally for local problems.
- The last UN Water Conference, held in 1977, was groundbreaking as it resulted in the first global ‘Action Plan’ recognising that “all peoples, whatever their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs.”
- This declaration led to several decades of global funding and concerted effort to lower the population without access to safe drinking water.
What are the current challenges?
- Extending services to underserved populations is relatively uncontroversial: it comes down to finding the money to pay for it. This is already occurring in India through programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Jal Jeevan Mission.
- However, the challenge is that improving access to water and sanitation no longer translates directly to sustained access to water and sanitation.
- Groundwater over-abstraction is mostly driven by agricultural pumping. The only way to solve this problem in heavily irrigated places like Punjab is to pump less. This would need a policy change which requires many agencies and ministries to cooperate.
- As such, the water problem is no longer about access to water. The remaining SDG targets pertain to sustainable agriculture, industry, and natural ecosystems. These targets are harder as they need, among other things, tough political choices and a stronger democracy.
What are the key commitments?
- The conference resulted in 713 voluntary commitments by philanthropic donors, governments, corporations and NGOs.
- This included a $50-billion commitment from India to improve rural drinking water services under the Jal Jeevan Mission. On the technology front, apart from specific innovations in wastewater treatment, there were several proposals for incubation platforms focusing on water management.
Solutions for knowledge-sharing:
- There are already many solutions for knowledge-sharing and thus, there is need to accelerate cross-learning. A notable tool was the W12+ Blueprint, a UNESCO platform hosting city profiles and case studies of programs, technologies, policies that addresses common water security challenges.
- An effort called ‘Making Rights Real’ offered to help marginalised communities and women understand how to exercise their rights.
- Similarly, the ‘Water for Women Fund’ offered mechanisms for more effective and sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene outcomes for women.
Conclusion:
- However, whether these commitments will become binding through the COP process, only time will tell.
Finland joins NATO bloc; Russia says move will escalate Ukraine conflict
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Why in news?
- Finland formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, roughly doubling the length of the border that the alliance shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight.
- Finland became the 31st member of NATO.
What it translates?
- As a NATO member, Finland is bound by the alliance’s mutual defence clause, Article 5.
- It will benefit not only from its allies’ conventional military assistance but also from their nuclear deterrence.
- In return, the Nordic nation, which intends to boost its defence budget by 40 per cent by 2026, could contribute some of its military resources to defend the alliance.
- It has a fleet of 55 F-18 US combat aircraft, which it plans to replace with more advanced F-35s from 2025 onwards, as well as 200 tanks and more than 700 artillery guns.
- The only military equipment that NATO actually owns are a fleet of Airborne Warning and Control System planes (AWACS) and five Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance drones.
- For all other military gear, each NATO member chooses what to contribute, though all have promised to reinforce the alliance’s eastern flank.
NATO troops:
- Together NATO allies represent 50 per cent of the world’s military might.
- According to the Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE), NATO can count on up to 3.5 million soldiers and personnel.
- The three nations providing most military staff are the United States with 1.47 million active troops plus 800,000 reservists, Turkey with 425,000 soldiers and 200,000 reservists, and France with 210,000 troops and 40,000 reservists.
- NATO has since 2004 had a multinational response force of some 40,000 soldiers on top of the 100,000 US troops already on European soil. It says it hopes to increase this to 300,000 soldiers.
- It has also set up a “spearhead force” within it, dubbed the “Very High Readiness Joint Task Force” or VJTF, able to deploy 5,000 personnel in two to three days.
Way Forward:
- The event marks the end of an era of military non-alignment for Finland that began after the country repelled an invasion attempt by the Soviet Union during the Second World War and opted to try to maintain friendly relations with Russia.
- Russia said it would strengthen its military capacity in its western and northwestern regions in response to the move.
