The rocky road: our contribution to the German government’s digital summit 2024
The annual Digital Summit of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport took place in Frankfurt in October. Over the course of two days, round about 1,500 participants discussed the future of the digital space in panels, workshops and fishbowl formats. There were exciting impulses for politics, business, civil society and more.
As Open Search Foundation, we moderated a panel discussion on the topic of “Search engines, democracy and digital sovereignty: How AI and open data are changing internet search”. Our panelists Daphne Auer (Common Grounds), Martin Potthast (University of Kassel), Christian Kroll (Ecosia) and Armand Zorn (Member of the German Bundestag) were interviewed on current challenges regarding existing digital search infrastructures, potential developments and possible solutions.
Von l.n.r.: Stefan Voigt (OSF), Daphne Auer (Common Grounds Forum), Christian Kroll (Ecosia), Armand Zorn (Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages)
Bias, dependencies and fundamental regulation
Daphne Auer kicked things off with an outline of the core problem in search, namely ‘bias’.
“When I search for something, I have a knowledge gap. I want to close it, preferably quickly. Most of us use the first one to three search results for this in everyday life. But how objective are these results? Why should the correct answer be represented in the first three results? What bias do the results have? Western bias? Commercial bias?” – with these words, the young computer scientist addressed the audience. As a concrete example that illustrates the meaning of pre-sorted results, she cited the ranking positions of human rights aspects in the course of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Delending on the country you were searching from, this topic appeared in different positions in the search engines. Her conclusion: results in search engines should be understood more as recommendation systems rather than comprehensive answers.
Martin Potthast focused on the importance of open data, which could provide more diversity and customized offers in the search market while serving as a basis for the development of European large language models. The prototype of an open web index – a kind of cataloging of web data – as is currently being developed in the OpenWebSearch.eu research project is the first step.
Christian Kroll brought Europe’s dependence on American digital giants to the fore. His case scenario: Should the USA decide to cut Europe off from the search indices of Google and Bing due to political changes, Europe would once again be dependent on libraries and telephone directories. The lack of digital sovereignty would have many effects on areas such as politics, the economy and civil society.
Armand Zorn emphasized the importance of regulations such as the Digital Markets Act and the Data Act currently in place in Europe. He considers smart regulation essential here. Basically, balancing the opportunities of new market models on the basis of minimum requirements should ensure objectivity and fairness in the search market. However, educating users is also fundamentally important and must begin in schools. Aware users would be better able to classify the sometimes opaque influences of information and use it in a targeted manner.
Personalization and diversity in line with standard requirements
Daphne Auer’s wish for the future of search includes personalized search results, looking beyond one’s own filters and the protection of personal data through anonymization. She expressed her hope for “more bridges, less polarization” through more visible diversity with regard to participation in digital dialogues as well as peer review-like verification approaches for content that reflects certain perspectives.
Martin Potthast also seemed to be invested in zooming out of the so-called filter bubbles. He addressed the problem of direct answers, which usually offer a quick but little differentiated solution to questions. Tools such as AI chatbots in particular will presumably make the filter flaps even narrower in the future, especially if there is no chat literacy. This means that those who don’t know how to ask the right questions will have a limited horizon with quick but poorly scrutinized results.
Finally, Armand Zorn addressed the fragmentation of society due to confirmation bias. Personalized search as an important part of everyday digital life, but without losing touch with reality. The danger is that people could create their own truths. In the future, it will be crucial to regulate in a way that a healthy balance between personal freedom and objective truth is maintained.
The discussion can be streamed via the YouTube channel of the Federal Ministry (start at time marker: 5.31 hours):
