Proponents of expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) often point to its potential to stimulate economic growth -- increased productivity at lower costs, a higher GDP per capita, and job creation have all been touted as possible benefits. The promise of an economic boost via machine learning is understandably seductive, and private and government actors are now regularly using AI in key areas of economic opportunity, including education, housing, employment, and credit, to name just a few. But as AI adoption is cast as a smart economic investment in the future, it's important to pause and ask: Whose futures and whose wallets are we talking about? There is ample evidence of the discriminatory harm that AI tools can cause to already marginalized groups. After all, AI is built by humans and deployed in systems and institutions that have been marked by entrenched discrimination -- from the criminal legal system, to housing, to the workplace, to our financial systems.

The promise of an economic boost via machine learning is understandably seductive, and private and government actors are now regularly using AI in …