The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine a town with two widget merchants. Customers prefer cheaper widgets, so the merchants must compete to set the lowest price.

AI could learn to form digital cartels in an effort to maximize profits Algorithms now determine how much things cost. It’s called dynamic pricing and it adjusts according to current market conditions ...

Algorithms are everywhere. They rule our lives. They decide what we see on social media, which ads get targeted to us, which route we should take to get places. If it used to be The Man keeping us ...

Algorithms are a staple of modern life. People rely on algorithmic recommendations to wade through deep catalogs and find the best movies, routes, information, products, people and investments.

As software and algorithms become an increasingly pervasive part of our lives, there’s growing interest and concern on how they are affecting society, the economy, and politics. Yet, most social ...

Algorithms are a staple of modern life. People rely on algorithmic recommendations to wade through deep catalogs and find the best movies, routes, information, products, people and investments.

Dating app Tinder relies on algorithms to decide which photos users see. Mike Blake/Reuters This piece isn’t about these issues, or about breaking down the complex nature of how algorithms work. To ...

The importance of algorithms in our lives today cannot be overstated. They are used virtually everywhere, from financial institutions to dating sites. But some algorithms shape and control our world ...

Dr. Steve Bellovin is professor of computer science at Columbia University, where he researches "networks, security, and why the two don't get along." He is the author of Thinking Security and the ...

Irina Raicu is the director of the Internet Ethics program (@IEthics) at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Views are her own. The following is a lightly edited version of comments made as part ...

Mashable’s series Algorithms explores the mysterious lines of code that increasingly control our lives — and our futures. Algorithms shape our lives, some more gently than others. From dating apps, to ...