Coded Bias

 I'm not sure where to start on the subject of Artificial Intelligence that I learned so much about from the Netflix documentary, Coded Bias.  There's so much I didn't know, and all I can say, is please watch Coded Bias.  I will tell you just a little of what I learned about this fascinating topic.

Artificial Intelligence was first developed in 1956 at Darmouth, by a group of all white men from the math department.  It was first used to show that a computer was smarter than a human by beating humans at chess.  Artificial Intelligence has moved way beyond that.  It is now used throughout the world by police departments, colleges, school districts, finance companies and apartment complexes, just to name a few.  It uses historical information to make a prediction.  That is the definition of an algorithm.  Unfortunately unconscious bias is imbedded in technology.  The result is that facial recognition analysis works best on light skinned males.  There is a very high probability that when a white male is identified using facial recognition technology, they have identified him accurately.  However, when a man or woman with darker skin is potentially identified using this same technology, the rate of accuracy is far less.

There are 9 major companies in the world that use AI to track you, find out what you like and dislike, and steer you toward making decisions favorable to that company.  This includes Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Alibaba.  

In China, every citizen is in the database.  Everything a Chinese citizen does is monitored.  Who they associate with, what they buy, where they go.  It's all tracked.  They have something called a "social credit system," to improve behavior!  Who you befriend is likely based on their credit score.  If you do something bad to affect your own score, it will also affect the score of your friends and family.  Chinese citizens know this, and behave accordingly.

The difference between China and the U.S. is that China is transparent about their surveillance.  We aren't.  Right now there about 117 million U.S. citizens in our database.  It's a biometric photo that the government has, which is like having your DNA or fingerprints  These can be used without permission for all kinds of reasons.  

AI is a fascinating field.  To learn more about this subject, watch Coded Bias.  It will open your eyes.