The dangers of bias in machine learning

Bias is everywhere in our society, it is well documented and when it comes to equality most people are in agreement that it's not a force for good. But bias can be useful. For instance, when we make the decision to not step in front of a bus, which most people are biased towards. However, when bias unfairly disadvantages one group over another, such as gender bias or racial bias, however, it's going to make the headlines in a bad way. This article isn't about that, but I wanted to put into context that bias itself is not good or bad, it is simply a decision (in the case of humans) made one way or another based on experience.