Artificial Intelligence Is Biased. She’s Working to Fix It. AI| Artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence Is Biased. She’s Working to Fix It.
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WEBVTT I’M SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, WELCOME TO “MATTER OF FACT.” NEARLY 70% OF CONSUMERS ARE ALREADY USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY OH AI, AND THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW IT. AI IS BEING USED TO REFER PATIENTS TO DOCTORS, TO DETERMINE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR LIFE INSURANCE, IT IS EXPECTED TO GET EVEN BIGGER, BUT FACIAL RECOGNITION, ONE ASPECT OF AI IS DRAWING LOTS OF CONCERN. THE THE THE ALGORITHM IMTHAT IS NOT GOVERNED BUT THERE ARE EFFORTS TO MAKE IT GET BETTER. SOME SAY RACIAL BIAS IS ALSO BAKED INTO AI CODING. WHEN YOU DID START STUDYING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? >> I GOT INTO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MORE SO THROUGH ART PROJECTS. I CAME TO THE MIT MEDIA LAB AND I WAS REALLY EXCITED TO TAKE COURSES THAT LOOKED AT BOTH ART AND SCIENCE, SO I STARTED A COURSE CALLED SCIENCE FABRICATION. THE ITEM WAS YOU READ SCIENCE FICTION AND YOU TRY BUILD SOMETHING YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO OTHERWISE. I BUILDING IS CALLED AN ASPIRE MIRROR, I COULD PUT ANYTHING I WANTED ON MY FACE. >> YOUR FACE WOULD COME UP AND SERENA WILLIAMS FACE WOULD BE IMPOSED ON YOURS AND THERE, YOUR ASPIRE MIRROR. >> A GREAT WAY TO START THE MORNING. THIS IS WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO, TRYING TO APPLY EXISTING TECHNOLOGY INTO AN ART PROJECT, AND WHILE I WAS DOING THAT, I RAN INTO THE ISSUE OF HAVING TO WEAR A WHITE MASS STOCK HAVE MY FACE DETECTED. >> WHAT HAPPENED? >> I WAS USING A WEB CAM AND THE WEB CAM HAD TO HAVE SOME COMPUTER VISION SOFTWARE TO TRACK MY FACE. BUT, INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING MY FACE, IT DID NOTHING. SO THIS IS WHAT GOT ME INTO QUESTIONING, WHY AM I HAVING A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE WITH TECHNOLOGY THAT I WOULD OTHERWISE THINK IS NEUTRAL. >> WHAT EXACTLY IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? >> ESSENTIALLY, IT IS GIVING MACHINES AUTOMATED ABILITIES TO PERCEIVE OR HAVE SOME TYPE OF DISCERNMENT. PART OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN BE HOW DO YOU LET MACHINE COMMUNICATE. WHETHER IT IS SIRI OR YOU’RE TALKING TO THE PHONE TO HAVE THE EXCITER UNDERSTAND YOU IN SOME WAY. >> — COMPUTER UNDERSTAND YOU IN SOME WAY. >> DID IT BECOME CLEAR TO YOU THAT AI WAS BIASED? >> THIS IS WHAT YOU WAS CURIOUS ABOUT. I STARTED TESTING AI FROM MICROSOFT, IBM, AND A-PLUS-PLUS, A GIANT TECH COMPANY FROM CHINA USED FOR SURVEILLANCE. >> WHAT YOU DID FIND? >> IT WASN’T JUST MY FACE. OVER ALL, THE SYSTEM WORKED BETTER ON MALE FACES THAN FEMALE FACES, THEY WORKED BETTER ON LIGHTER FACES THAN DARKER FACES AND WORKED ESPECIALLY POORLY ON DARKER FEMALE FACES. YOU DIDN’T HAVE AN ERROR RATE OF 1% BUT 35% FOR DARKER SKINNED WOMEN. >> DID YOU GO BACK TO THE TECH PROBLEMS AND SAY, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. >> IBM GOT BACK TO ME IN 24-HOURS AND SAID WE ACKNOWLEDGE THIS IS IMPORTANT AND WE WILL LOOK INTO IT. WHEN THEY REPLICATED THE STUDY, THEY FOUND SIMILAR RESULTS SO THEY INVITE PIECE TO SPEAK TO THEIR SENIOR TECHNOLOGIST AND EXECUTIVE AND ROLLED OUT A NEW PRODUCT THAT W SUBSTANTIALLY BET >> AMAZON HAS A PROJECT AND YOU REACHED OUT TO JEFF BEZOS. >> THEY ARE CURRENTLY SELLING RECOGNITION TO POLICE DEPARTMENTS RIGHT NOW. IN FOLLOW UP STUDIES WE DID, WE EVEN SHOWED THAT AMAZON WAS NOT GETTING OPRAH’S FACE CORRECT. >> IF YOU’RE FAILING ON OPRAH’S FACE, YOU CAN’T HAVE VERY GOOD SOFTWARE. >> I WOULD QUESTION IT HIGHLY, FOR SURE. >> IS THE IDEA THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE BIASED SO ANYBODY WHO IS A PROGRAMMER IS BRINGING THEIR BIAS INTO THIS PROGRAM, AND IF IT IS AI, IT IS REALLY HUMAN BIAS THAT IS JUST BEING REFLECTED? >> I CALL IT THE CODED GAZE, RIGHT? THE CODED GAZE, LIKE THE MALE GAZE OR WHITE GAZE REFLECTS THE PRIORITIES, REFLECTS THE PREFERENCES AND REFLECTS THE PREJUDICES OF THOSE WHO HAVE THE POWER TO SHAPE TECHNOLOGY. >> YOU WANTED A MORATORIUM ON THIS TECHNOLOGY? >> ABSOLUTELY. BECAUSE OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ERRORS WITH FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY — >> IT IS CLEARLY BIASED. >> CLEARLY BIASED, IT IS BEING USED RIGHT NOW, BEING SHOWN TO NOT BE EFFECTIVE AND THERE IS NO OVERSIGHT. UNTIL WE HAVE PROCESSES WHERE WE CAN SEE, IS THE TECHNOLOGY WORKING AS WE INTEND IT TO AND DO WE HAVE CONTINUOUS REPORTS SO WE SEE THE TECHNOLOGY IS NOT BEING ABUSED, I BELIEVE THERE SHOULD BE A MORATORIUM AS WE WORK ON FEDERAL STANDARDS AND RECOGNIZATIONS FOR THIS K
Artificial Intelligence Is Biased. She’s Working to Fix It.
AI technology is booming and it is expected to get even bigger. It’s being used for everything from finding friends online and unlocking your phone to employers considering candidates and police looking for suspects. More than 70 percent of consumers are already using artificial intelligence and they don’t even know it. But what happens if the algorithms used in AI are wrong? Or even specifically biased? Soledad O’Brien speaks with MIT researcher and Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini who is combating bias in AI algorithms.
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