IT'S THE AI INSPECTOR

摘要

BEEN SAID THAT ALGORITHMS are "opinions embedded in code." Few understand this better than Abeba Birhane. While working on her PhD in cognitive science at University College Dublin, Birhane- who was born and raised in Ethiopia-realized no one was asking what goes into the huge data sets often used to train artificial intelligence systems. These data sets are typically scraped from the internet-a cheap and easy process but also one in which the AI can absorb the biases that inhabit the web and end up mirroring society, with all of its ugliness baked in. Ignoring this risks real-world harm: AI has been accused of underestimating the health needs of Black patients, for instance, and of making it harder for people of color to get mortgages.