The Utah government paid $20 million for an AI software that scans social media posts and identifies criminal activity in real-time.
Due to some problems they had to start an investigation: is the AI racially biased?
What do you think they found?
I love this story, so a 🧵 /1
Due to some problems they had to start an investigation: is the AI racially biased?
What do you think they found?
I love this story, so a 🧵 /1
Before you read the rest of this thread, try to guess what the investigation found in response to the question: Is the AI algorithm racially biased?
I bet the answer will surprise you.
But let me tell the whole story first. /2
I bet the answer will surprise you.
But let me tell the whole story first. /2
Banjo, was a software company that made Live Time, a software with the capability to "detect active shooter incidents, child abduction cases, and traffic accidents from video footage or social media activity".
Impressive, no? /3
Impressive, no? /3
The Utah government awarded them a $20.7 million contract.
But, news broke that the founder of Banjo was a white supremacist with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
As a result, there was concern that the AI algorithm itself had white supremacist biases. /4
But, news broke that the founder of Banjo was a white supremacist with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
As a result, there was concern that the AI algorithm itself had white supremacist biases. /4
This was around the time of the George Floyd case en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Fl…
Worried of the negative PR, the government stopped the use of Live Time, and called for an audit. /5
Worried of the negative PR, the government stopped the use of Live Time, and called for an audit. /5
The audit report came out last week. Are you ready for the big reveal?
The audit report resulted in this memorable headline:
Government audit of AI with ties to white supremacy finds no AI
venturebeat.com/2021/04/05/gov…
/6
The audit report resulted in this memorable headline:
Government audit of AI with ties to white supremacy finds no AI
venturebeat.com/2021/04/05/gov…
/6
How?
The Live Time software claims to read Twitter feeds and analyzes the text and videos there.
The audit found that the software doesn't actually read any data from Twitter, and the algorithm does not "meet the industry definition of Artificial Intelligence" /7
The Live Time software claims to read Twitter feeds and analyzes the text and videos there.
The audit found that the software doesn't actually read any data from Twitter, and the algorithm does not "meet the industry definition of Artificial Intelligence" /7
The moral of the story is:
if you're buying AI software, ask the hard questions to find out if there is really AI in the software, and is the AI really adding value, and then ...
you're still not ready to buy the software
You then have to check if the software is biased. /end
if you're buying AI software, ask the hard questions to find out if there is really AI in the software, and is the AI really adding value, and then ...
you're still not ready to buy the software
You then have to check if the software is biased. /end
Does anyone have a link to an article or Twitter thread giving instructions on how to evaluate the claims of an AI software vendor before buying? I seem to remember retweeting a thread like this, but I can no longer find it.
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