19 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
19 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
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```
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title = "Algorithmic Bias"
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tags = ["misc", "social media"]
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date = "2020-06-05 09:55:42 -0400"
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slug = "algorithmic-bias"
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```
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I am subscribed to Marques Brownlee on YouTube. I watch almost every one of his videos. YouTube is smart. It knows this, it recommends me almost all of his videos. But not this one. No matter how many times I refresh the page. No matter how far down the page I scroll. Despite the fact that the video has gotten 2.3 million views in 16 hours, performing better than a number of his recent videos. Despite the fact that it's recommending me videos that are from people I am not subscribed to, videos that are years old, videos that I have watched before, videos that are about politics, videos that are about the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
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This is what algorithmic bias looks like. **Algorithms are not neutral.**[^1]
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<figure>
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<img src="/2020/algorithmic-bias/youtube_thumb.png" alt="YouTube thumbnail of an MKBHD video">
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<figcaption>A screenshot of the thumbnail for a YouTube video from MKBHD titled "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-_WXXVye3Y" data-no-link-decoration>Reflecting on the Color of My Skin</a>".</figcaption>
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</figure>
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[^1]: "Algorithm" is a word here used not in the purely computer science sense, but to mean a element of software which operates in a black box, often with a machine learning component, with little or no human supervision, input, or control.
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