Washington D.C. [USA], July 14 (ANI): Researchers developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool for detecting unfair discrimination such as race or gender. Preventing unfair treatment of individuals on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity, for example, been a long-standing concern of civilized societies. However, detecting such discrimination resulting from decisions, whether by human decision-makers or automated AI systems, can be extremely challenging. This challenge is further exacerbated by the wide adoption of AI systems to automate decisions in many domains including policing, consumer finance, higher education, and business. "Artificial intelligence systems such as those involved in selecting candidates for a job or for admission to a university are trained on large amounts of data. But if these data are biased, they can affect the recommendations of AI systems," said Vasant Honavar, one of the researchers of the study presented at the meeting of The Web Conference.

"We analysed an adult income data set containing salary, demographic and employment-related information for close to 50,000 individuals. We found evidence of gender-based discrimination in salary. Specifically, we found that the odds of a woman having a salary greater than $50,000 per year is only one-third that for a man. This would suggest that employers should look for and correct, when appropriate, gender bias in salaries," said Honavar.

Preventing unfair treatment of individuals on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity, for example, been a long-standing concern of civilized societies. However, detecting such discrimination resulting from decisions, whether by human decision makers or automated AI systems, can be extremely challenging. This challenge is further exacerbated by the wide adoption of AI systems to automate decisions in many domains -- including policing, consumer finance, higher education and business. "Artificial intelligence systems -- such as those involved in selecting candidates for a job or for admission to a university -- are trained on large amounts of data," said Vasant Honavar, Professor and Edward Frymoyer Chair of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State. "But if these data are biased, they can affect the recommendations of AI systems."

A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool for detecting unfair discrimination--such as on the basis of race or gender--has been created by researchers at Penn State and Columbia University. Preventing unfair treatment of individuals on the basis of race, gender or ethnicity, for example, been a long-standing concern of civilized societies. However, detecting such discrimination resulting from decisions, whether by human decision makers or automated AI systems, can be extremely challenging. This challenge is further exacerbated by the wide adoption of AI systems to automate decisions in many domains--including policing, consumer finance, higher education and business. "Artificial intelligence systems--such as those involved in selecting candidates for a job or for admission to a university--are trained on large amounts of data," said Vasant Honavar, Professor and Edward Frymoyer Chair of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State.