Silicon Valley should stop focusing on Terminator and start focusing on the very real, and now SCOTUS-sanctioned ways that proprietary machine learning algorithms are using in sentencing (you won't believe what happened next!)https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/opinion/algorithm-compas-sentencing-bias.html …
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"No one knows exactly how COMPAS works; its manufacturer refuses to disclose the proprietary algorithm. We only know the final risk assessment score it spits out, which judges may consider at sentencing."
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"Mr. Loomis challenged the use of an algorithm as a violation of his due process rights to be sentenced individually, and without consideration of impermissible factors like gender. The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected his challenge."
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"In June, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear his case, meaning a majority of justices effectively condoned the algorithm’s use. Their decision will have far-ranging effects."
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"But an algorithm that accurately reflects our world also necessarily reflects our biases."
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"A ProPublica study found that COMPAS predicts black defendants will have higher risks of recidivism than they actually do, while white defendants are predicted to have lower rates than they actually do."
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"For now, the only people with visibility into COMPAS’s functioning are its programmers, who are in many ways less equipped than judges to deliver justice."
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This stuff is seriously messed up, is already happening, is now sanctioned by the Supreme Court, and is actually our fault. I don't see how conservatives or liberals can be in favor of sentencing driven by secret proprietary algorithms.
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It's a dystopia no matter how you slice it. There are good groups (
@ProPublica,@ACLU) already fighting this, and we ought to help them however we can. And maybe get the people spending literal millions on Terminator to focus on the immediate problem.1 reply 0 retweets 15 likesShow this thread -
Incidentally I was thinking about this because I read that an exception to CA's weed release law is if a judge believes that the incarcerated person is likely to commit a violent crime upon release.
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And I was thinking: God help us if they use that COMPAS software.
And then I was thinking: oh shit they actually might!



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