Do big data algorithms treat people differently based on characteristics like race, religion, and gender? Mary Worth in her new book Weapons of Math Destruction and Frank Pasquale in The Black Box Society both look closely and critically at concerns over discrimination, the challenges of knowing if algorithms are treating people unfairly and the role of public policy in addressing these questions.
Tech leaders must take seriously the debate over data usage — both because discrimination in any form has to be addressed, and because a failure to do so could lead to misguided measures such as mandated disclosure of algorithmic source code.
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