Striving to make algorithms fair

04 Jul, 2018
 
Striving to make algorithms fair

Professor Rhema Vaithianathan is at the forefront of creating software tools to help frontline government agency staff identify children at risk of abuse. But could the software algorithms judge people unfairly?

As machine learning infiltrates society, scientists are trying to help ward off injustice.

For Vaithianathan and her project with Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, USA, it’s meant opening the doors to stakeholder questions.

"In the absence of straight answers and perfect solutions... transparency is the best policy," Vaithianathan told Nature.

Read more about her work and listen to Vaithianathan discuss the issues with Nature.

Nature journal website