It might be possible for Facebook, Twitter, Google to avoid using algorithms with hardcoded bias. But they can't avoid using algorithms.
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Replying to @mattblaze
Basically, when you use "algorithm" this way, you're confusing everyone who knows what the word means.
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Replying to @mattblaze
Maybe we need a word for "algorithm with hidden bias". But, please, it shouldn't be "algorithm". Then we'd need a new word for "algorithm".
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Replying to @mattblaze
I hate this conflation of meaning but language is language does. The word has two meanings now.
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Replying to @zeynep @mattblaze
1, as in heapsort. 2, complex computation used in decision-making in a manner opaque to affected parties. Or something like that.
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Replying to @zeynep
The problem is that when someone says uses the 2nd meaning, it has the illusion of being precise without actually being so.
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Replying to @mattblaze
The phenomenon is widepread and consequential enough that we needed word for it. This one emerged. Any alternative suggestions?
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Replying to @zeynep
How about qualifying it with what the problem is? e.g., "opaquely biased algorithms"
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Replying to @mattblaze @zeynep
The problem isn't the algorithm part, it's the opaque bias part, and that's where the emphasis should be.
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Replying to @mattblaze @zeynep
Also, in some cases, the problem may not even be the algorithm itself, but rather the data it was trained with.
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the way it's used now denotes the whole process. I avoided the term for long, and then found can't speak about topic in public.
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Replying to @zeynep @mattblaze
Yup. Matt, Zeynep is right. The word has shifted meaning in public discourse, just as "hacker" did.
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Replying to @SteveBellovin @zeynep
I'm not sure that's it's shifted. This usage is quite new, and it's only be used by a relatively small elite.
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