Dear Applied Statistics Workshop Community,
Our next meeting of the semester will be at *12:10 pm (EST) Wednesday,
March 2*, where Sharad Goel <https://5harad.com> (Harvard University)
presents "Designing Equitable Algorithms for Criminal Justice and Beyond."
*Abstract*
Machine learning algorithms are now used to automate routine tasks and to
guide high-stakes decisions, but, if not carefully designed, they can
exacerbate inequities. I’ll start by describing an evaluation of automated
speech recognition (ASR) tools, which power popular virtual assistants,
facilitate automated closed captioning, and enable digital dictation
platforms for health care. We find that five state-of-the-art ASR systems
-- developed by Amazon, Apple, Google, IBM, and Microsoft -- exhibited
substantial racial disparities, making twice as many errors for Black
speakers compared to white speakers, a gap we trace back to a lack of
diversity in the audio data used to train the models. I'll then describe
recent attempts to mathematically formalize fairness. I'll argue that some
of the most popular definitions, when used as a design principle, can,
perversely, harm the very groups they were created to protect. I'll
conclude by describing a general, consequentialist paradigm for designing
equitable algorithms that aims to mitigate the limitations of the dominant
approaches to building fair machine learning systems.
*Where:* CGIS Knafel Building, Room K354
(See this link <https://map.harvard.edu/?bld=04471&level=9> for directions).
*When:* Wednesday, March 2 at 12:10 - 1:30 pm.
(Bagged lunches available for pick-up at CGIS K354 *11:30 - 11:45 am*, for
the participants who responded to our previous survey. The CGIS cafe on the
first floor has been designated as an eating area, and participants may
also use outdoor spaces for lunch. Please be present at K354 by 12:10 pm
for the presentations.)
*Zoom link*:
https://harvard.zoom.us/j/97004196610?pwd=eGFydkF5RDRjUlk5RVcyTjV6OStUQT09
(For the participants who cannot join the session physically.)
*Schedule of the workshop*:
https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/applied.stats.workshop-gov3009
Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!
Best,
Sooahn