As the healthcare and financial impacts of COVID-19 continue to evolve with the global pandemic, the use of AI technology and associated risks have received greater attention. On April 8, 2020, the FTC posted an extensive summary of its recent enforcement actions, studies, and guidance regarding the use of AI tools and algorithms. The FTC […]
algorithm
The inherent bias that all-too-often springs from AI algorithms is well-documented. With AI bias and errant outcomes surging, a call for more human involvement. ‘Even the people deploying these algorithms sometimes would be surprised that these things could happen’. The best approaches to eradicating such bias is general awareness, as well as designating trained people […]
As it turns out, algorithms that are trained on data that’s already subject to human biases can readily recapitulate them, as we’ve seen in places like the banking and judicial systems. Other algorithms have just turned out to be not especially good. Now, researchers at Stanford have identified another area with potential issues: the speech-recognition […]
Digital cloaking, and how you can reclaim a modicum of digital privacy. A.I. researchers are starting to think about how technology can solve the problem it created. Algorithms with names like “PrivacyNet” and “AnonymousNet” and “Fawkes” now offer a glimmer of refuge from the facial recognition algorithms trawling the public web. Full article: This Filter […]
Artificial intelligence is biased. Human beings are biased. In fact, everyone and everything that makes choices is biased, insofar as we lend greater weight to certain factors over others when choosing. Developers design neural networks that can learn from data, but once they’ve released their creations into ‘the wild’, such neural nets have operated without […]
A new NIST study examines how accurately face recognition software tools identify people of varied sex, age and racial background. Results captured in the report, Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) Part 3: Demographic Effects (NISTIR 8280), are intended to inform policymakers and to help software developers better understand the performance of their algorithms. Face recognition technology has inspired […]
In the case of the Filter Bubble Transparency Act, it’s not just spin; it’s an example of how badly defined buzzwords can make it impossible to address the internet’s problems. The bill is named after Eli Pariser’s 2011 book The Filter Bubble, which argues that companies like Facebook create digital echo chambers by optimizing content for what each […]
Senate lawmakers are teeing up a bill that would require search engines to disclose the algorithms they apply in ranking internet searches amid growing concern over their use of personal data and give consumers an option for unfiltered searches. Search engines such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit use a variety of measures to filter results […]
The UK’s Home Office is facing a landmark Judicial Review to reveal how an algorithm it uses to triage visa applications works – in what appears to be the first case of its kind here, and which could open up a series of future similar demands in the public and private sectors if successful. The […]
While algorithms have become more powerful and ubiquitous, evidence has mounted that they reflect and even amplify real-world biases and racism. Recent research shows black patients are disproportionately impacted. An algorithm used to determine prison sentences was found to be racially biased, incorrectly predicting a higher recidivism risk for black defendants and a lower risk […]