Big data analytics is the secret sauce of the American polity and economy—widely utilized but poorly understood. Organizations use various typesOpens in a new window of big data analytics to make decisions, correlations, and predictions about their constituents or stakeholders. The market for data is big and growing rapidly; it’s estimatedOpens in a new window to hit $100 billion before the end of the decade. But the recipe for data analytics can at times contain a hidden ingredient: bias. Not surprisingly, there is evidenceOpens in a new window that reliance on big data analytical processes can lead to divisive, discriminatory, inequitable, and even dangerous outcomes—collective harms—for some of the people sorted into groups. That needs to change.
Recent Publications
The Age of AI Nationalism and Its Effects
September 30, 2024 Policy makers in many countries are determined to develop artificial intelligence (AI) within their borders because they view AI as essential to both national security and economic growth. Some countries have proposed adopting AI sovereignty, where...
AI could become the ‘new steel’ as overcapacity risk goes unnoticed
July 24, 2024 Policymakers in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Japan, the U.K., and the EU have announced huge public investments in artificial intelligence, which follow large private sector investments. Hu Guan – Xinhua – Getty Images In the 19th century,...
Data Disquiet: Concerns about the Governance of Data for Generative AI
The growing popularity of large language models (LLMs) has raised concerns about their accuracy. These chatbots can be used to provide information, but it may be tainted by errors or made-up or false information (hallucinations) caused by problematic data sets or...
