Wired, October 25, 2018: Algorithms can be a tool for justice- if used the right way
Clever algorithms applied to Big Data, a combination sometimes given the shorthand “artificial intelligence,” make inducive and sometimes intrusive judgments about us in the name of a more efficient world.
Rather than offering solutions, AI has made things worse, these authors argue, as when Amazon’s hiring algorithm “learns” to rank women applicants lower, or facial recognition software is found to confuse pictures of black politicians with criminal mugshots more frequently than white politicians.
The current corporate model is to use algorithms to unleash efficiencies. Netflix wants to get people to keep watching happily; Uber wants to dispatch rides to people who need transportation; Facebook is searching for ads and articles that we’ll find and share.
In public policy this algorithmic efficiency allows governments to allocate resources through programs like one at the Los Angeles Police Department, which compiles a list of “probable offenders,” before sending officers to investigate.
But imagine if we turned that spigot of data and incisive algorithms toward those who presume to judge and control us: Algorithms should be another important check on the system, revealing patterns of unfairness with a clarity that can be obscured in day-to-day life.
