Real-life Examples of Discriminating Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence.

Some say that it’s a buzzword that doesn’t really mean much. Others say that it’s the cause of the end of humanity.

The truth is that artificial intelligence (AI) is starting a technological revolution, and while AI has yet to take over the world, there’s a more pressing concern that we’ve already encountered: AI bias.

What is AI bias?

AI bias is the underlying prejudice in data that’s used to create AI algorithms, which can ultimately result in discrimination and other social consequences.

Let me give a simple example to clarify the definition: Imagine that I wanted to create an algorithm that decides whether an applicant gets accepted into a university or not and one of my inputs was geographic location. Hypothetically speaking, if the location of an individual was highly correlated with ethnicity, then my algorithm would indirectly favor certain ethnicities over others. This is an example of bias in AI.

This is dangerous. Discrimination undermines equal opportunity and amplifies oppression. I can say this for certain because there have already been several instances where AI bias has done exactly that.