Quote of the day at #FAT2020:
So far my key takeaway from this conference is that anthropologists are absolutely vital to this process. A call to “study up” is to contextualize a process by studying its situation within systems.
Our work (in data) is tangled in larger social and political struggles. Tendency is to gaze “down” focusing on the powerless for “social good”. It happens (as an example) when we try to study criminal tendencies rather than the bias of the policing systems that criminalize.
KEY POINT: all of this work [in AI] is based on data that is collected by powerful institutions. #FAT2020
Even judges fall victim to this perspective. We can make algorithms more “fair”, but why study the victims rather than the systems that put them there? It is a choice.
Also key point: so much of our assessments of these programs are limited. We are “outsiders” where much access is denied out of hand.
Solution to lack of access: they designed their own risk assessment algorithm. Don’t predict recidivism of detainees, predict instead whether a judge will make the “correct” choice of whether a detainee will re-offend. Great idea, great perspective. Very refreshing!
Slight correction: the tool predicts whether the judge will adhere to the Constitution. 🤦🏻♀️✊🏻
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