Algorithmic decision making and the cost of fairness (2017)
It seems like the problem is that any data that works statistically will not be fair to individuals who are intuitively exceptions to the general trend. It sounds like algorithms relying on statistics are pretty much guaranteed to fail the fairness test. It&#x27;s the wrong tool for this problem I think.<p>There are so many factors in morality that I think individually, case by case judgments are likely the best option. Racial &#x2F; class bias seems to be just as present in these algorithms, so lets at least allow for human intervention rather than forcing ourselves to be constrained by an inherently unfair system. Yes, humans are flawed too, but perhpas we should be spending more time trying to adjust &#x2F; account for those in different ways.<p>Note: Bias in sentencing&#x2F;convictions is a huge problem that should absolutely be worked on. I&#x27;m only claiming that these approaches are inherently flawed, not that what we have now is anywhere close to good enough.