Data Cascades in Machine Learning

Data is a foundational aspect of machine learning (ML) that can impact performance, fairness, robustness, and scalability of ML systems. Paradoxically, while building ML models is often highly prioritized, the work related to data itself is often the least prioritized aspect. This data work can require multiple roles (such as data collectors, annotators, and ML developers) and often involves multiple teams (such as database, legal, or licensing teams) to power a data infrastructure, which adds complexity to any data-related project. As such, the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), which is focused on making technology useful and usable for people, can help both to identify potential issues and to assess the impact on models when data-related work is not prioritized. In "'Everyone wants to do the model work, not the data work': Data Cascades in High-Stakes AI", published at the 2021 ACM CHI Conference, we study and validate downstream effects from data issues that result in technical debt over time (defined as "data cascades").