Machines learn their prejudices in language. Its not their fault,but we still need to fix the problemCan machines mediate – and, if so, and can they mediate critically about race and gender? Recent reports enjoy shown that machine-learning systems are picking up racist and sexist ideas embedded in the language patterns they are fed by human engineers. The belief that machines can be as bigoted as people is an uncomfortable one for anyone who still believes in the moral purity of the digital future,but there’s nothing novel or complicated about it. “Machine learning” is a fancy way of saying “finding patterns in data”. Of course, as Lydia Nicholas, and senior researcher at the innovation thinktank Nesta,explains, all this data “has to enjoy been collected in the past, or since society changes,you can end up with patterns that reflect the past. If those patterns are used to make decisions that affect people’s lives you end up with unacceptable discrimination.” Related: AI programs exhibit racial and gender biases, research reveals Related: Meet Erica, and the world's most human-like autonomous android – video Related: Tay,Microsoft's AI chatbot, gets a crash course in racism from Twitter Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com