Lauren Hackney News Today

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An AI tool in child welfare cases in Northampton County is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential bias in its use elsewhere.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the county’s child welfare system to determine whether its use of the influential algorithm discriminates against people with disabilities or other protec…

As part of a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press obtained the data points underpinning several algorithms deployed by child welfare agencies to understand how they predict which children could be at risk of harm. They offer rare insight into the mechanics driving these emerging technologies.

Some parents wonder if an artificial intelligence tool that the Allegheny County Department of Human Services uses to predict which children could be at risk of harm singled them out because of their disabilities.

For the two weeks that the Hackneys’ baby girl lay in a Pittsburgh hospital bed weak from dehydration, her parents rarely left her side, sometimes sleeping on the fold-out sofa in the room.

The U.S. child welfare system is under investigation for using an artificial intelligence tool that may have discriminated against people with disabilities.

As part of a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press obtained the data points underpinning several algorithms deployed by child welfare agencies to understand how they predict which children could be at risk of harm

Andrew and Lauren Hackney took their baby to a hospital and she ended up in foster care. They wonder if an artificial intelligence tool singled them out because of their disabilities. The Justice Department is asking the same question. (March 15) (AP Video/Jessie Wardarski)

As part of a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press obtained the data points underpinning several algorithms deployed by child welfare agencies to understand how they predict which children could be at risk of harm. They offer rare insight into the mechanics driving these emerging technologies. Among the factors they use to measure a family’s risk outright or by proxy are race, poverty rates, disability status and family size. The tools' developers say that their work is transparent...