IBM Debuts Tools to Help Prevent Bias In Artificial Intelligence

IBM wants to help companies mitigate the chances that their artificial intelligence technologies unintentionally discriminate against certain groups like women and minorities. The technology giant's tool, announced on Wednesday, can inspect AI-powered software for unintentional bias when it makes decisions, like when a loan might be denied to a particular person, explained Ruchir Puri, the chief technology officer and chief architect of IBM Watson. The technology industry is increasingly combating the problem of bias in machine learning systems, used to power software that can automatically recognize images in pictures or translate languages. A number of companies have suffered a public relations black eye when their technologies failed to work as well for minority groups as for white users. For instance, researchers discovered that Microsoft and IBM's facial-recognition technology could more accurately identify the faces of lighter-skin males than darker-skin females.