Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
Why? Because the data crunchers and their bosses just really want to discriminate?
Nah. They want to make money. They will end up using criteria that correlate with race but that they can show actually have meaning for the decision they are making.
Leaving the different and more difficult problem of how to level the playing field.
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Data crunchers can't think fast enough (to borrow the article's term). All is sacrificed to risk minimization and maximum efficiency. If it's found that an algorithm gets better results using prohibited bases for credit denial/renting/hiring, there will be pressure to nevertheless use it. And given many algorithms are self-tweaking, the algorithm itself might engage in the prohibited discrimination without any human programming toward doing so, providing the desired unlawful result and alibi all in one.
