August 24, 2016
In an ASU law school class, Law, Science and Technology, LSI faculty recently highlighted that while judges, expert witnesses and humans in general are subject to biases (unintentional or otherwise), algorithms are so as well. An algorithm may be viewed as more objective given its (current) lack of human qualities, but as an article in The Conversation points out, bias remains. However, such bias may be fixed with awareness — by observing how, when and where it occurs (which is easier with digital systems) and tweaking the software as needed. Interestingly, as the article notes, algorithms and monitoring thereof allow for faster recognition of the existence of bias and, thus, quicker fixes.