, 17 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
IT'S THE NOT-QUITE DEFINITIVE ARE-ALGORITHMS-RACIST? THREAD!
When people talk about whether or not algorithms are racist, they really mean "are machine learning algorithms racist?"

The short answer is no, algorithms aren't racist. They operate without bias to replicate societal behavior. It's human actions algorithms copy that are racist.
I don't mean that people are racist in the way someone like Bill O'Reily would define racist - most people aren't thinking about ways to murder other racial groups.
There's a famous study by LaTonya Sweeny that a much earlier version of Google's algorithm would turn up ads related to criminal background searches substantially more frequently when people search for ethnic sounding names.
Was the algorithm racist? No. People searching for ethnic-sounding names are more likely to be searching for criminal background checks.

Were the countless people searching for criminal background checks on ethnic names racists? That's a possibility.
But, more than racism, it could just mean that people with ethnic names are more likely to grow up poor, meaning they live in neighborhoods higher in crime, meaning that a landlord who checks all applicants disproportionately search for ethnic names.
The effects, however, are kind of racist.
If you had searched for LaTonya Sweeny, a then Harvard professor with no criminal background, and one of the first results says "DO YOU WANT TO SEE LATONYA SWEENY'S CRIMINAL BACKGROUND?" there's a chance it will lead you to think she had a criminal background.
Similarly, if you work at a university where the students are overwhelmingly white, and train an algorithm in facial recognition using students as the test group, the resulting program will be much better at sorting white faces than black ones.
Was anyone deliberately trying to design devices that didn't work on black people? No. Was the math racist? No. Are there racist effects to living in a world where devices only work for white people? Kind of.
This is all extremely different than what conservatives accuse Facebook and Google of doing when they accuse the sites of manipulating algorithms to disadvantage conservatives.

That accusation is dumb.
Liberals do this too, although the lawmakers or major media outlets that seem pander to their bases by promoting the idea that Silicon Valley tampers with their algorithms to hurt them seem to be conservative.
Is Google treating searches for Steve King different than other searches to make him seem racist? Probably not. It's pretty clear most national attention for Steve King has been focused on his more controversial statements. His search results reflect that.
Can we do anything about machine learning going off the rails? Well, yes. Starting with big, diverse data sets helps. And tweaking the algorithm not to treat backdoor indicators of race (like names) as indicators of race can work too.
The latter isn't something that can always be handled proactively - unanticipated problems will occur in the wild, and people might have to be patient.
Can we do anything about Steve King seeming racist in Google's search results? Europe has a model where people can request Google remove search results they disagree with. To be blunt, that will harm conservative media more than it helps them.
Thank you for reading my Ted talk, "Was Ryan Saavedra looking for an explanation or just dunking on AOC? Because I can do that first thing."
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Joe Uchill
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls (>4 tweets) are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!