Is that still a good thing? How search engines and AI control our view of the world (lecture and workshop)

Every day we search the internet or consult AI chatbots. We are usually quick to accept the results displayed. We rarely think about the fact that we leave behind many digital traces over time, which lead to so-called filter bubbles - we usually get results that correspond to our own world view and assumptions and reinforce them. Genuine diversity of information? Not a chance.

But why is this actually the case? And why is it not safe for internet searches to be based on a monopoly?

In this lecture, we will shed light on the background to today's web search:

• What economic structures prevail in the search engine market?
• What is a web index and what is its function?
• How do biases (cognitive distortions) arise?
• How can I protect my data on the web?
• How can I create more diversity of information for myself?

And: together with the participants, we look at habits that have become dear to us. Because just knowing about the difficulties is not enough - the use of search engines and AI chatbots has already become an automatism that we have to actively break. Wouldn't it be easy to change that?

The lecture will take place as part of FreeWebSearchDay 2025 - the day of action for a free, open internet search. The speakers are Lara Sokol, research assistant at the Institute for Information Systems at the University of Kassel and Carolin Bauer from the Open Search Foundation e.V.. Together, the two organizations run the PriDI research project, which deals with digital infrastructures that promote privacy.