Is the Algorithm Fair or Unfair?

In crime prevention and other jobs, people are using algorithms to see if they can employ people or arrest people based on where they live, gender, or race. You know when you like a video it gives you more videos related to the one you watched? For example, if you liked a video on Brawl Stars you will get more videos about it making you watch more and more content. In this case, the algorithm is finding criminals based on their home, their race, and their gender. For example, if a man commits a crime then the algorithm is going to track it and log it, and more men will get arrested for doing nothing.

The past of the algorithm plays a big part in it today. Since every crime and other thing the algorithm uses is logged, then it heavily affects the algorithm today. This may sound simple to understand since you just have to look at the past of the crimes and other things it's logging, but it is still hard to understand. It is so hard to understand it sometimes they call it a black box. This means humans can’t understand the algorithm.

The algorithm tracks so many things. For example, the inner city has a lot of crime there and humans can’t log all the crimes there, but the algorithm can. So in those areas where there is crime, the algorithm says where the most crime is in that area. But there are some flaws in this because the algorithm actually doesn't only track where there are crimes. It also tracks how many cops are there in the area and tracks how many arrests they make. So basically it will say there are more crimes in certain areas where they already send more cops even though those areas might not have more crimes than other areas.

Also, they log things by using face ID. You know when you're using your phone and you're trying to unlock it even though it's your face and it does not recognize it? Well, it's the same for the algorithm but way less accurate. For white people, it works 99% of the time which is pretty good. But for black people, it only works 65% of the time. That is a 34% difference which is huge. This information was from the PBS documentary called “Computers vs Crime.”

The algorithm also has a gender bias. Jeff Bezos owns Amazon, a huge company that delivers items that you buy to your home instead of going in person. But Jeff is a little lazy and uses the algorithm to hire Amazon workers. This strategy is not a good way. A study shows that men get hired way more than women at Amazon. So, a woman who graduates from Stanford applies for Amazon, and a man who never went to college might have a higher chance of getting the job than a woman. That’s because the past people have been hired who have been men. It’s like when you get a 100% on a first test in class and you have a 100% in the class until you keep taking tests and your grade lowers because of a lower average test score. In the past, Amazon hired mostly men, so the algorithm has that in mind and wants to keep doing that.

So why is it important to know about the algorithm? Well, the algorithm can be weird, and it's best to know when it might affect you. This way if you get in some trouble in court because of the algorithm you can use the information to defend yourself. The algorithm is also meant to save time and do things humans can’t do in a short amount of time. It's like a website on the internet. It's quicker to look it up instead of finding it in a book, but it might be more unreliable and less trustworthy.

I have mixed feelings about this. For now, I’m a kid and this stuff does not affect me that much since there are different rules. But from my perspective, I think the algorithm is a good idea since it's quick and is faster than a human. But a normal non-biased human is way better in my opinion since he/she will be more fair. So in summary I would not really care if they used the algorithm or didn’t use the algorithm for crime where I live.

Overall, the algorithm can be pretty weird. Sometimes it could be accurate, but other times it can be not true. The algorithm is used for crimes and hiring people for jobs and other random things, but those are the most important.  It is affected by your gender, race, and population so it can be a bad thing sometimes if you're unlucky. So be careful next time you know the algorithm is watching you!