Discrimination has kept up with the times, and the anti-Black algorithms that drive AI are just the latest manifestation. But it’s the same old game.
#1: Mortgages - In 2018, a study found that the algorithms used by mortgage lenders are biased against Black applicants. This led to lenders charging higher interest rates to Black and Latino borrowers. As a result, they paid up to half a billion dollars more in interest every year than white borrowers with comparable credit scores.
#2: Face Tracking - In 2018, a research study found that facial recognition software from Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon could detect the gender of lighter-skinned men but not that of darker-skinned women. The error rate of the software was 0.8% for light-skinned men and 34.7% for dark-skinned women.
#3: Crime Prediction - In 2016, a study found that prison software that predicted the likelihood of future crime was biased against Black people. Its algorithm was likely to erroneously flag Black defendants nearly twice as often as “low-risk” white defendants.
Like all technologies, AI relies on anti-Black systems to function. But there’s nothing artificial about our intelligence, innovation, and creativity. That’s what we need to rely on to liberate ourselves.