Civil Rights Violations in the Face of Technological Change

In the age of technological innovation, people of color find themselves embattled with upholding the same fight for equal rights. This time, the fight is online and offline. One such area is algorithmic bias. Algorithms are quantitative data, a process or set of rules involving mathematical calculations that produces more data that helps people make decisions. Algorithmic bias (machine learning bias) or AI bias, is a systematic error in the coding, collection, or selection of data that produces unintended or unanticipated discriminatory results. Algorithmic bias is perpetuated by data scientists who train algorithms based on patterns found in historical data. These bias results are then used by humans to make decisions with implications that are systematically prejudiced towards communities of color.

[Dominique Harrison is a Senior Project Manager at the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program]