As an example of our previous post ‘How Algorithms Can Become Weapons of Math Destruction‘, New York City has decided to audit the key algorithms used by the city to decide on their resource allocation.
The issue is described in detail in the post ‘New York City Wants to Audit the Powerful Algorithms That Control Our Lives‘. A task force will be created that “will audit the city’s algorithms for disproportionate impacts on different communities and come up with ways to inform the public on the role of automation“.
The issue of accountability is central; as algorithms take decisions that have huge impact on people’s lives (school admission, access to social services, whether to be kept in jail), we need to come up with a way to reinstate a sufficient dose of accountability in the decisions and how the codes are being developed.
This is a first globally and this initiative will certainly spread rapidly.
