Concerns over biased algorithms grow as computers make more decisions
A new report suggests ways to improve the technology and its accountability. Listen - 06:06
Technology is increasingly taking the place of humans in making decisions. Getty Images
When the US started distributing COVID-19 vaccines late last year, an essential question emerged: Who should get priority access to the shots? Many medical facilities and health officials decided to first vaccinate workers, including nurses and janitors, who came into close contact with infected people. Stanford Medicine, part of one of the country s top universities, instead built an algorithm to determine the order.
It’s time for greater scrutiny of the algorithms that profile users and filter ideas in social media. | iStock/VectorFun
The old maxim holds that a lie spreads much faster than a truth, but it has taken the global reach and lightning speed of social media to lay it bare before the world.
One problem of the age of misinformation, says sociologist and former journalist Mutale Nkonde, a fellow at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), is that the artificial intelligence algorithms used to profile users and disseminate information to them, whether truthful or not, are inherently biased against minority groups, because they are underrepresented in the historical data upon which the algorithms are based.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
The next decade will witness the introduction of AI regulation at both the Federal and State level. Much of this regulation will focus on the use of autonomous and self-driving cars. In 2016 the Obama administration introduced a report on the future of artificial intelligence. The report summarized the status of AI in American society, economy, and government. It looked at specific applications, such as transportation and war fighting, and makes a series of nonbinding recommendations. This was followed in 2018 by the Trump administration’s Summit on Artificial Intelligence for American Industry, reviewing the Trump administration’s regulatory and policy to AI.
December 23rd, 2020 in Featured. Closed
Timnit Gebru is one of the most high-profile Black women in her field and a powerful voice in the new field of ethical artificial intelligence (AI), which seeks to identity issues around bias, fairness, and responsibility. (Photo: Google AI research scientist Timnit Gebru speaks on Sept. 7, 2018, at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco/Getty Images)
The Washington Post
By Nitasha Tiku
Google hired Timnit Gebru to be an outspoken critic of unethical AI. Then she was fired for it.
Two months ago, Google promoted Timnit Gebru, co-lead of a group focused on ethical artificial intelligence, after she earned a high score on her annual employee appraisal. Gebru is one of the most high-profile Black women in her field and a powerful voice in the new field of ethical AI, which seeks to identity issues around bias, fairness, and responsibility.
Skip to main content
Currently Reading
Google hired Timnit Gebru to be an outspoken critic of unethical AI. Then she was fired for it.
Nitasha Tiku, The Washington Post
Dec. 23, 2020
FacebookTwitterEmail
Timnit Gebru said she was fired by Google after criticizing its approach to minority hiring and the biases built into today’s artificial intelligence systems.Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Two months ago, Google promoted Timnit Gebru, co-lead of a group focused on ethical artificial intelligence, after she earned a high score on her annual employee appraisal. Gebru is one of the most high-profile Black women in her field and a powerful voice in the new field of ethical AI, which seeks to identity issues around bias, fairness, and responsibility.