The Ethical Algorithm

Algorithms have evolved into powerful engines of financial technology. But they don’t always live up to the hype, as algorithmic models fail to take account of basic societal concerns like fairness, privacy and bias. Fintech Beat sits down with Michael Kearns to find out what can be done to make algorithms “ethical.”

• Computer and Information Science

Kristian Lum on ACM ByteCast

Kristian Lum discusses her transition from math and statistics into computer science, and how her lab work in bioinformatics expanded her interest into social issues on this episode of ACM ByteCast..

Warren Center Affiliate Profile- Kristian Lum

Although statistics is not a field typically associated with social impact, Kristian Lum uses her expertise in statistical and machine learning models to address important societal issues and hopes to amplify the voices of less powerful groups and individuals in conversations about technology that affects them.

• Computer and Information Science

What the 1968 Kerner Commission can teach us

Criminologist and statistician Richard Berk, who worked on the report as a graduate student, explains the systemic racism and poverty found to underlie violent unrest in the 1960s and where COVID-19 and the economy fit today.

• Criminology
• Statistics

Can contact tracing stop the spread of COVID-19?

Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth discuss how contact tracing works, the differences between traditional ‘analog’ and new ‘digital’ approaches, and how these two strategies could shape what everyday life looks like in the next phase of the pandemic.

• Computer and Information Science

A Snapshot of the Frontiers of Fairness in Machine Learning

The last decade has seen a vast increase both in the diversity of applications to which machine learning is applied. Machine learning is no longer just the engine behind ad placements and spam filters; it is now used to filter loan applicants, deploy police officers, and inform bail and parole decisions, writes Aaron Roth.

• Computer and Information Science

What’s behind some of the market volatility? Algorithms.

Behind all the fluctuations we are seeing daily — sometimes even every minute — in the stock market is a hard, cold algorithm that’s driving trading. Michael Kearns discusses this and more on NPR's Marketplace.

• Computer and Information Science

How to Build an Ethical Algorithm

Algorithms determine a huge amount about the way we live and work online. They determine what we see online and can tell us what type of healthcare we're going to get. On a recent episode of Fast Forward, Michael Kearns explains how AI systems will change the world for the better—if we design them the right way.

• Computer and Information Science

Ethical algorithm design should guide technology regulation

Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth explore ways to mitigate possible biases and create a pathway toward greater fairness in AI and emerging technologies in their Brookings Policy Brief.

• Computer and Information Science

Socially Aware Algorithms Are Ready to Help

Better coding, not just laws and regulations, is the solution for tech’s failure to address the needs of actual humans, writes Aaron Roth and Michael Kearns in their Scientific American op-ed.

• Computer and Information Science