US government use of AI is shoddy and failing citizens – because no one knows how it works

New York University's AI Now Institute, a research hub investigating the wider social impacts of machine learning algorithms, has published a report critiquing how the US government uses the technology. The report, emitted this week, is based around a series of case studies discussed during a workshop held in June earlier this year. Research into the ethics of algorithms is flourishing, and most people are now aware of the common pitfalls of machine learning that are particularly troubling. AI systems have been described as black boxes. It's impossible to see what's going on and understand how machines make decisions since there are so many hidden variables.