The Inherent Bias of Facial Recognition

There are lots of conversations about the lack of diversity in science and tech these days. But along with them, people constantly ask, "So what? There are lots of ways to answer that question, but perhaps the easiest way is this: because a homogenous team produces homogenous products for a very heterogeneous world. This column will explore the products, research programs, and conclusions that are made not because any designer or scientist or engineer sets out to discriminate, but because the "normal" user always looks exactly the same. The result is products and research that are biased by design. Facial recognition systems are all over the place: Facebook, airports, shopping malls. And they're poised to become nearly ubiquitous as everything from a security measure to a way to recognize frequent shoppers. For some people that will make certain interactions even more seamless. But because many facial recognition systems struggle with non-white faces, for others, facial recognition is ...