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Bad headline. The author discusses why it would be a terrible idea to use inherently flawed ML approaches to establishing statistical models of criminal risk, a

Bad headline. The author discusses why it would be a terrible idea to use inherently flawed ML approaches to establishing statistical models of criminal risk, and how opposed such a system is to the fundamental principles of the US justice system. But that doesn’t mean the talk about using ML to cut human empathy out of more and more of the justice system is just “hype”. There’s no substance to the techniques proposed, that’s true. They are more dangerously biased than the humans they are meant to replace. But that doesn’t mean that these systems aren’t going to be purchased and implemented if we don’t push back harder against the general AI hype that pervades VC tech culture in general. ML can recommend a movie to watch or a restaurant nearby, and when it fails terribly and reinforces biases and misunderstandings like it always does, the cost to society is minimal. But when you put people’s lives in its hands, the consequences of the inevitable failures are far more damaging.

chrinic83 8y ago
There's recent work by Stanford and MIT that shows ML sentencing algorithms are _less_ biased than humans. I forgot the link and am on mobile, but one can probably find it online. Keep in mind that just because an algorithm e.g. sentences a black person to prison, it doesn't mean the algorithm is biased.
Barrin92 8y ago
>ML can recommend a movie to watch or a restaurant nearby, and when it fails terribly and reinforces biases and misunderstandings like it always does, the cost to society is minimal I'd go further and say we should pay a lot of attention to this too. The subtle ways in which recommendation engines change what cultural goods we consume, including journalism, might very well have some pretty significant effects. But yes, to essentially beta test rudimentary statistical models in actual court rooms or police stations were people's legal rights are at stake is pretty much insane.
dang 8y ago
That criticism of the headline seems a tad nitpicky, but ok; we'll replace hype with a bad idea above.

chrinic83 8y ago

There's recent work by Stanford and MIT that shows ML sentencing algorithms are _less_ biased than humans. I forgot the link and am on mobile, but one can probably find it online. Keep in mind that just because an algorithm e.g. sentences a black person to prison, it doesn't mean the algorithm is biased.

Barrin92 8y ago

>ML can recommend a movie to watch or a restaurant nearby, and when it fails terribly and reinforces biases and misunderstandings like it always does, the cost to society is minimal I'd go further and say we should pay a lot of attention to this too. The subtle ways in which recommendation engines change what cultural goods we consume, including journalism, might very well have some pretty significant effects. But yes, to essentially beta test rudimentary statistical models in actual court rooms or police stations were people's legal rights are at stake is pretty much insane.

dang 8y ago

That criticism of the headline seems a tad nitpicky, but ok; we'll replace hype with a bad idea above.