AI embedded bias on social platforms

Gorenc, Nina (author)

AI-based social platforms pervade our lives, filter the information wereceive and influence our choices. Despite their significant role, theinner workings of these AI systems remain largely opaque to mostusers. We seem to implicitly trust the platforms and share personalinformation without much restraint, mistakenly viewing algorithmsas neutral mathematical entities, and overlooking the potentialharms AI systems can cause to individuals and the society. Youngpeople, as the primary users of these platforms, believe theirfamiliarity with the platforms is equivalent to their understandingof AI, whereas their behaviour often reveals the opposite.The present article challenges the perceived objectivity ofalgorithm-based AI systems on social platforms and probes intostudents’ ability to recognize AI embedded biases and tounderstand their impact on social learning. The study reviewsrelevant literature and analyses survey data gathered from thestudents of social sciences at the University of Ljubljana andSapienza, the University of Rome.Our goal is to place the debate on AI in a broader contextuallandscape of our daily life, and to emphasize the importance ofrecognizing the hidden biases of AI and actively working to mitigatethem by making informed decisions and adjusting our behaviour.

• Language: English
• Keywords: AI bias, social platforms, algorithm, predictive analytics
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 16.04.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 317-336
• Numbering: Vol. 35, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179398
• UDC: 004.8:077.5
• ISSN on article: 0390-6701
• DOI: 10.1080/03906701.2025.2489056
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268306435
• Publication date in RUL: 12.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Revue internationale de sociologie
• Shortened title: Rev. int. sociol.
• Publisher: Casa Editrice Leo Olschki
• ISSN: 0390-6701
• COBISS.SI-ID: 26310912

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.