It should no longer be a surprise that algorithms can discriminate. A criminal risk-assessment algorithm is far more likely to erroneously predict a Black defendant will commit a crime in the future than a white defendant.2 Ad-targeting algorithms promote job opportunities to race- and gender-skewed audiences, showing secretary and supermarket job ads to far more women than men.1 A hospital's resource-allocation algorithm favored white over Black patients with the same level of medical need.5 Algorithmic discrimination is particularly troubling when it affects consequential social decisions, such as who gets released from jail, or has access to a loan or health care. Employment is a prime example. Employers are increasingly relying on algorithmic tools to recruit, screen, and select job applicants by making predictions about which candidates will be good employees.

Back in the 1980s, Artificial Intelligence (AI) just had to look good in the movies and be able to power fancy talking cars, zappy spaceships and various forms of fantastical cyborgs who would one day roam the planet and possibly destroy the human race. Fast-forward to 2019 and we find ourselves deep in the AI renaissance (or perhaps first'real' birth of AI, rather than any form of rebirth) as we now have the processing power, memory capacity, cloud network breadth and sophisticated algorithmic intelligence to actually apply AI to our lives. But there's a problem -- we (the humans) who build the AI brains need to be able to construct them with a pure enough form of digital DNA such that they stay clean of any form of discriminatory bias. Major cloud networks have already been criticized for employing software that discriminates against women; a well-known search engine has been accused of featuring ethnic bias in results when looking for'unprofessional hairstyles'; an equally well-known social network has been criticized for showing certain job ads only to men; and the list goes on. The question the tech industry must now face is: how to we rid AI of bias in all its forms and ensure fair play for all in the age of computer-driven decision making? One set of answers comes from Women Leading in AI (WLinAI), a network of leaders working in tech, science, politics, business and think tanks – the group is demanding that the UK government takes back control of technology.

Back in the 1980s, Artificial Intelligence (AI) just had to look good in the movies and be able to power fancy talking cars, zappy spaceships and various forms of fantastical cyborgs who would one day roam the planet and possibly destroy the human race. Fast-forward to 2019 and we find ourselves deep in the AI renaissance (or perhaps first'real' birth of AI, rather than any form of rebirth) as we now have the processing power, memory capacity, cloud network breadth and sophisticated algorithmic intelligence to actually apply AI to our lives. But there's a problem -- we (the humans) who build the AI brains need to be able to construct them with a pure enough form of digital DNA such that they stay clean of any form of discriminatory bias. Major cloud networks have already been criticized for employing software that discriminates against women; a well-known search engine has been accused of featuring ethnic bias in results when looking for'unprofessional hairstyles'; an equally well-known social network has been criticized for showing certain job ads only to men; and the list goes on. The question the tech industry must now face is: how to we rid AI of bias in all its forms and ensure fair play for all in the age of computer-driven decision making? One set of answers comes from Women Leading in AI (WLinAI), a network of leaders working in tech, science, politics, business and think tanks – the group is demanding that the UK government takes back control of technology.