Turns Out Algorithms Are Racist

It turns out that artificial intelligence may be just as bigoted as human beings. Last fall, it was discovered that a complex program used in image recognition software was producing sexist results--associating cleaning or the kitchen with women, for example and sports with men. The developers were disturbed, but perhaps it shouldn't have been so surprising. After all, Computers and software, even at their most sophisticated, are still in essence input-output systems. AI is "taught" by feeding it enormous amounts of pre-existing data--in this case, thousands upon thousands of photos.