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Are AI machines really impartial and reliable? Not when it comes to gender.
💻 It’s true that artificial intelligence is run by machines designed to improve humans' tasks and solve our complex problems. However, contrary to popular belief, machines are not gender-neutral.
🚹🚺 Because in our society power is distributed unequally among different genders and sexualities, datasets used to train AI imitate this pattern and are also full of biases.
📌 It's even more dangerous when computer systems operate under the disguise of "impartiality," when they are in fact reinforcing patriarchal norms and posing threats for women and people with diverse SOGIESC.
📢 Without proper protocols in how data is obtained and fed into the AI system, AI use is likely to be dictated by discrimination and inequality.
✊ Manushya Foundation urges the tech sector and all involved parties to ensure gender bias is eradicated from artificial intelligence and machine learning. The question of ethical AI cannot be divorced from human rights afforded to marginalized groups, including women and the LGBTIQ+ community.
References:
UCL, Gender bias revealed in AI tools screening for liver disease, (11 July 2022), available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jul/gender-bias-revealed-ai-tools-screening-liver-disease
Access Now, Ban automated recognition of gender and sexual orientation, available at: https://act.accessnow.org/page/79916/action/1
Reuters, EU urged to ban 'discriminatory' AI tools that detect gender or sexuality, (16 April 2021), available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-tech-lgbt-idUSL8N2M86XH
Guardian, ‘There is no standard’: investigation finds AI algorithms objectify women’s bodies, (8 February 2023), available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/08/biased-ai-algorithms-racy-women-bodies
UNESCO, COMEST Extended Working Group on Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Preliminary study on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, (26 February 2019), available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000367823
Forbes, AI Bias Could Put Women’s Lives At Risk - A Challenge For Regulators, (20 March 2020), available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carmenniethammer/2020/03/02/ai-bias-could-put-womens-lives-at-riska-challenge-for-regulators/?sh=191eb3ef534f