TECHNOLOGY

AI Created For White People By White People Hardens Racist Systems

AI presents a new layer of racism, codifying pre-existing racial biases into a deceivingly faceless system

Photo of a woman in striped long sleeves raising her hands | Taken by Valeria Nikitina via Pexels

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer confined to sci-fi films and novels. As we’ve seen in recent years, this cutting-edge technology has played a significant role in our everyday lives. In the healthcare industry, for instance, algorithms are making decisions that impact patient diagnosis and treatment. Obermeyer et al. (2019) found, for example, that “Black patients assigned the same level of risk by the algorithm are sicker than White patients.” These findings have real-world implications, namely that this “racial bias reduces the number of Black patients identified for extra care by more than half.” AI doesn’t have to be racist. However, when it’s created for White people by White people, the algorithm hardens racist systems.

Of course, it’s not as if AI is introducing racism into our society — it’s a pre-existing condition, particularly in the healthcare industry. Hoffman et al. (2016) found that half of the medical students they surveyed endorsed racist myths regarding racial biological differences. One suggested, for instance, that Black people had a higher pain threshold than…