This Is Why Twitter's Algorithm Appears To Have A Race Problem

As we've learned (or apparently not) time and time again, AI and machine learning technology have a racism problem. From soap dispensers that don't register dark-skinned hands to self-driving cars that are 5 percent more likely to run you over if you are black because they don't recognize darker skin tones, there are numerous examples of algorithms that don't function as they should because they weren't tested enough with non-white people in mind. Over the weekend, one such algorithm with apparent bias drew attention after cryptographer and infrastructure engineer Tony Arcieri tried a simple experiment on Twitter. Arcieri took two photos: One of Barack Obama and one of Mitch McConnell. He then arranged them as below.