Bias In AI

The latest headlines about AI are a reminder that most egregious biases relating to AI are held by the people talking about it.

AI will improve the world. It may destroy it. My favorites are presumably thoughtful positions that say it’s a little bit of both, and therefore demands additional thoughtful positions.

The news last week was dour on AI transforming businesses fast enough, so the stock markets reacted with a big selloff. Prior news of AI’s transformative promise got the EU’s bureaucracy to react with lots of regulations.

There’s a biased interest behind all of it.

I know, that sounds like I’m afflicted, too, with something called “intentionality bias” or, worse, a penchant for tin foil hats.

Most things that happen in life aren’t the result of a conspiracy or ulterior motive. But some things are, and I think what we’re told about AI is one of them.

When someone building AI comments about its potential to do great harm, they’re also promoting its promise and pumping the value of their business. Investors who deride AI are looking to make money when tech stocks fall. Academics who blather about the complexities of AI are interested in more funding to pay for more blather, and management consultants who talk about those complexities hope to make money promising to resolve them. Bureaucrats tend to build more bureaucracy after claiming to foster innovation (or whatever).

There’s no better poster child for the inanity of believing in some online “public square” whereat ideas are fairly vetted and conclusions intelligently reached.

The conversation about AI is a battle of biases, and its winners are determined by the size of their megaphones and the time of day.

It’s too bad, because we’d all benefit from a truly honest and robust dialogue, most notably when it comes to making decisions about if, where, and when we want AI to play a role in our lives.

But we’re not being empowered to ask important questions or get reliable answers. The conversation about AI sees us as users, potential victims, and always the data-generating fodder for its continued rollout.

The ultimate bias of AI is against us.