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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algorithmic bias | 10/13 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_bias | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T16:31:03.393915+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Disability discrimination === While the modalities of algorithmic fairness have been judged on the basis of different aspects of bias – like gender, race and socioeconomic status, disability often is left out of the list. The marginalization people with disabilities currently face in society is being translated into AI systems and algorithms, creating even more exclusion The shifting nature of disabilities and its subjective characterization, makes it more difficult to computationally address. The lack of historical depth in defining disabilities, collecting its incidence and prevalence in questionnaires, and establishing recognition add to the controversy and ambiguity in its quantification and calculations. The definition of disability has been long debated shifting from a medical model to a social model of disability most recently, which establishes that disability is a result of the mismatch between people's interactions and barriers in their environment, rather than impairments and health conditions. Disabilities can also be situational or temporary, considered in a constant state of flux. Disabilities are incredibly diverse, fall within a large spectrum, and can be unique to each individual. People's identity can vary based on the specific types of disability they experience, how they use assistive technologies, and who they support. The high level of variability across people's experiences greatly personalizes how a disability can manifest. Overlapping identities and intersectional experiences are excluded from statistics and datasets, hence underrepresented and nonexistent in training data. Therefore, machine learning models are trained inequitably and artificial intelligent systems perpetuate more algorithmic bias. For example, if people with speech impairments are not included in training voice control features and smart AI assistants –they are unable to use the feature or the responses received from a Google Home or Alexa are extremely poor. Given the stereotypes and stigmas that still exist surrounding disabilities, the sensitive nature of revealing these identifying characteristics also carries vast privacy challenges. As disclosing disability information can be taboo and drive further discrimination against this population, there is a lack of explicit disability data available for algorithmic systems to interact with. People with disabilities face additional harms and risks with respect to their social support, cost of health insurance, workplace discrimination and other basic necessities upon disclosing their disability status. Algorithms are further exacerbating this gap by recreating the biases that already exist in societal systems and structures.
=== Google Search === While users generate results that are "completed" automatically, Google has failed to remove sexist and racist autocompletion text. For example, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism Safiya Noble notes an example of the search for "black girls", which was reported to result in pornographic images. Google claimed it was unable to erase those pages unless they were considered unlawful.
== Obstacles to research == Several problems impede the study of large-scale algorithmic bias, hindering the application of academically rigorous studies and public understanding.
=== Defining fairness ===
Literature on algorithmic bias has focused on the remedy of fairness, but definitions of fairness are often incompatible with each other and the realities of machine learning optimization. For example, defining fairness as an "equality of outcomes" may simply refer to a system producing the same result for all people, while fairness defined as "equality of treatment" might explicitly consider differences between individuals. As a result, fairness is sometimes described as being in conflict with the accuracy of a model, suggesting innate tensions between the priorities of social welfare and the priorities of the vendors designing these systems. In response to this tension, researchers have suggested more care to the design and use of systems that draw on potentially biased algorithms, with "fairness" defined for specific applications and contexts.
=== Complexity === Algorithmic processes are complex, often exceeding the understanding of the people who use them. Large-scale operations may not be understood even by those involved in creating them. The methods and processes of contemporary programs are often obscured by the inability to know every permutation of a code's input or output. Social scientist Bruno Latour has identified this process as blackboxing, a process in which "scientific and technical work is made invisible by its own success. When a machine runs efficiently, when a matter of fact is settled, one need focus only on its inputs and outputs and not on its internal complexity. Thus, paradoxically, the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become." Others have critiqued the black box metaphor, suggesting that current algorithms are not one black box, but a network of interconnected ones. An example of this complexity can be found in the range of inputs into customizing feedback. The social media site Facebook factored in at least 100,000 data points to determine the layout of a user's social media feed in 2013. Furthermore, large teams of programmers may operate in relative isolation from one another, and be unaware of the cumulative effects of small decisions within connected, elaborate algorithms. Not all code is original, and may be borrowed from other libraries, creating a complicated set of relationships between data processing and data input systems. Additional complexity occurs through machine learning and the personalization of algorithms based on user interactions such as clicks, time spent on site, and other metrics. These personal adjustments can confuse general attempts to understand algorithms. One unidentified streaming radio service reported that it used five unique music-selection algorithms it selected for its users, based on their behavior. This creates different experiences of the same streaming services between different users, making it harder to understand what these algorithms do. Companies also run frequent A/B tests to fine-tune algorithms based on user response. For example, the search engine Bing can run up to ten million subtle variations of its service per day, creating different experiences of the service between each use and/or user.