I am an algorithm

Understanding bias in coding

Alastair Somerville

@acuity_design

Safety

Workshop goals

To understand– what is an Algorithm–why it creates problems–how can we react

What is an Algorithm?

Algorithmic thought

It’s a recipe

Quick exercise

Write down how to make a pot of

coffee

Making coffee in a pot:1. Get a pot, the size depends on home many people you are making the coffee for. 2. Pour water into the pot until the pot is almost filled with water.3. Put the pot on the stove an turn the stove on.4. Let the water in the pot boil for five minutes.5. After that you get the can that contains the coffee grains and put scoops of coffee in the boiling pot.(the amount of scoops you put may vary depending on how many people you are making the coffee for).6. You let the pot now containing the boiled hot water and coffee grains boil for another minute.7. You turn off the stove and remove the pot from the stove.8. You take out another pot for the next procedure.9. You pour the water and the coffee grains that the first pot contain into a percolator and into the second pot.10. Finally you you pour the substance into a cup and add as many sugars, creme, and milk as you like and you enjoy it.

It’s a way of recording and

remembering tasks over time and

amongst people

Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks will not

destroy human society

But that’s not enough

Automation

Bad if you are a barista

But that’s not enough

Autonomy

Decision making

Artificial Intelligence

Judgements

Drones

Do NOT operate Algorithm without Human supervision

Bit too far

Algorithms are

Algorithms are written recipes

Algorithms are written recipes for decision making

Algorithms are written recipes for semi-autonomous decision making

Why are Algorithms a

problem?

What algorithms

worry you now in your life?

FinancialConsumer

SocialInformational

RankingPrioritisationClassificationAssociation

Filtering

The Fears

Autonomy of machine

reduces agency of human

The loss of intelligibility

The Black Box Society

Frank Pasquale

The box is opaque to

human understanding...

...but the contents are created by

humans

It is intelligible but not

accessible

Exercise

Amazon Recommendatio

ns

Try to understand– what data goes in– what comes out– what do Amazon put in the box

Need a framework

What can we do?

PoliticalPersonal

Political

Create transparency

Transparency is not enough

Code is law

Lawrence Lessig

Legislate an intelligible

society

Long term change

Personal

Intelligible life

Creating a toolkit

Short term skills

Critical thinking

ALGORITHMIC ACCOUNTABILITY

REPORTING ON THE INVESTIGATION OF

BLACK BOXES

NICHOLAS DIAKOPOULOS, PH.D.

Reverse engineering

The Message Machine

Understanding a campaign

donation request

algorithm

1What do they

know?

Input correlates to output

NamesAges

Addresses

NamesAges

Addresses

NamesAges

AddressesDonation history

Beware

Correlation does not imply

causation, nor intent on the part of the

designer

2What do they

want?

Understand their needs

DonationsProof of data

More data

Semi autonomous

algorithm

Adaptive algorithm

The algorithm adapts and that

change is visible

Your Amazon homepage

What changes what appears

on the Homepage?

Be mindful of your digital

places

Take screenshots

Use social connections and

conversation

Compare your page to a

friend’s page

Algorithms are not just about

you

The trick is in our humanity

Algorithms are coded by humans

Understand the coder not the

code

A Toolkit

Think backwards Use correlation carefullyMake comparisons over

timeImagine what the coder

wantsTalk to your friends

Think backwards Use correlation carefullyMake comparisons over

timeImagine what the coder

wantsTalk to your friends

Think backwards Use correlation carefullyMake comparisons over

timeImagine what the coder

wantsTalk to your friends

Think backwards Use correlation carefullyMake comparisons over

timeImagine what the coder

wantsTalk to your friends

Think backwards Use correlation carefullyMake comparisons over

timeImagine what the coder

wantsTalk to your friends

Finishing up

What is an Algorithm

Why it creates problems

How can we react

What

Algorithms are written recipes for semi-autonomous decision making

Why

RankingPrioritisationClassificationAssociation

Filtering

The loss of intelligibility

How

Short term: use social

Long term: use

political

Thank you

Q&A