More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech
Mar 2023 · MIT Press
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About this ebook
"Broussard, a researcher and reporter whose work focuses on ethics in AI, is the perfect guide to this moment.”—Glamour
Both technical and accessible, this intersectional exploration of algorithmic bias offers real solutions for making technology less harmful, from an expert data scientist.
The word “glitch” implies an incidental error, as easy to patch up as it is to identify. But what if racism, sexism, and ableism aren’t just bugs in mostly functional machinery—what if they’re coded into the system itself? In the vein of heavy hitters such as Safiya Umoja Noble, Cathy O’Neil, and Ruha Benjamin, Meredith Broussard demonstrates in More Than a Glitch how neutrality in tech is a myth and why algorithms need to be held accountable.
Broussard, a data scientist and one of the few Black female researchers in artificial intelligence, masterfully synthesizes concepts from computer science and sociology. She explores a range of examples, such as:
• Facial recognition technology trained only to recognize lighter skin tones
• Mortgage-approval algorithms that encourage discriminatory lending
• The dangerous feedback loops that arise when medical diagnostic algorithms are trained on insufficiently diverse data
• How technologies designed with good intentions by fallible humans develop programs that can result in devastating consequences
Broussard argues that the solution isn’t to make omnipresent tech more inclusive, but to root out the algorithms that target certain demographics as “other” to begin with. With sweeping implications for fields ranging from jurisprudence to medicine, the ground-breaking insights of More Than a Glitch are essential reading for anyone invested in building a more equitable future.
Both technical and accessible, this intersectional exploration of algorithmic bias offers real solutions for making technology less harmful, from an expert data scientist.
The word “glitch” implies an incidental error, as easy to patch up as it is to identify. But what if racism, sexism, and ableism aren’t just bugs in mostly functional machinery—what if they’re coded into the system itself? In the vein of heavy hitters such as Safiya Umoja Noble, Cathy O’Neil, and Ruha Benjamin, Meredith Broussard demonstrates in More Than a Glitch how neutrality in tech is a myth and why algorithms need to be held accountable.
Broussard, a data scientist and one of the few Black female researchers in artificial intelligence, masterfully synthesizes concepts from computer science and sociology. She explores a range of examples, such as:
• Facial recognition technology trained only to recognize lighter skin tones
• Mortgage-approval algorithms that encourage discriminatory lending
• The dangerous feedback loops that arise when medical diagnostic algorithms are trained on insufficiently diverse data
• How technologies designed with good intentions by fallible humans develop programs that can result in devastating consequences
Broussard argues that the solution isn’t to make omnipresent tech more inclusive, but to root out the algorithms that target certain demographics as “other” to begin with. With sweeping implications for fields ranging from jurisprudence to medicine, the ground-breaking insights of More Than a Glitch are essential reading for anyone invested in building a more equitable future.
"Broussard, a researcher and reporter whose work focuses on ethics in AI, is the perfect guide to this moment.”—Glamour
Both technical and accessible, this intersectional exploration of algorithmic bias offers real solutions for making technology less harmful, from an expert data scientist.
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About the author
Meredith Broussard is Associate Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University and Research Director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology. She is the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (MIT Press). Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, BBC, Wired, the Economist, and more. She appears in the 2020 documentary Coded Bias and serves on the advisory board for the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies. More information at @merbroussard or meredithbroussard.com.
Meredith Broussard is Associate Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University and Research Director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology. She is the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (MIT Press). Her work has b...
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