New research shows that understanding users' intentions—rather than simply increasing data volume—can improve the suggestions generated by YouTube's "black box" algorithms. Yet the recommendation systems are mysterious in other ways. There is a strong temptation, she acknowledges, to just build AI systems with enough predictive power that they can pick up on certain behavioral patterns. A deeper understandingInstead, she and her colleagues tweaked the structure of the recommendation system itself. "Your business insights will be very, very valuable in instructing the design of better AI systems."