Opinion Artificial intelligence will replicate the human biases we ignore

The idea of shifting decision-making to algorithms and artificial intelligence is a compelling one: It can, so the theory goes, remove the inconsistencies and prejudices of human decision-making, and make a fairer world. Life-changing decisions are inevitably affected by our human biases and frailties. One Israeli study, for instance, found that, at the beginning of the day, judges granted parole in two-thirds of cases, granted close to zero just before the lunch break and then granted more again after lunch, once the judges had eaten and taken a break. So if we can't even tackle bad decision-making because we're hungry, how do we even begin to tackle deeper-seated biases? Shifting away from a world so affected by human fallibility therefore seems compelling, but it comes with huge dangers that could entrench existing divides and failures.