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How Can We Stop Algorithms From Lying?

posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 17 2017, @03:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the swear-on-a-stack-of-K&Rs dept.

canopic jug writes:

At The Guardian, Cathy O'Neil writes about why algorithms can be wrong. She classifies the reasons into four categories on a spectrum ranging from unintential errors to outright malfeasance. As algorithms now make a large portion of the decisions affecting our lives, scrutiny is ever more important and she provides multiple examples in each category of their impact.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @10:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @10:23AM (#540890)

    Actually even that algorithm didn't lie. It didn't know the applicable legal regulations, it didn't know about pollution, it didn't know about roads and testing facilities, all it "knew" was, for these measurement values, use those control settings. Even if it had a consciousness and the ability to decide on ethical grounds (a precondition to be able to lie), without the knowledge of what the rules mean it could not be accused to lie as long as it follows them.