Author: Cathy O’Neil
Publisher: Crown
Publication Year: 2016
Summary: The following book discusses “weapons of math destruction”: algorithms that try to quantify subjective qualities or judgment metrics. For example, an algorithm that tries to quantify “creditworthiness” is meant to streamline and increase efficiency. However the designs of this system and many others like it end up reproducing and magnifying existing inequalities and prejudices. O’Neil condenses the commonalities of these algorithms to opacity, scale and damage. Because these systems are difficult to understand and often concealed from those it affects it is hard to even call these systems into question. Oftentimes the scale at which they are implemented by large corporations makes it difficult for an individual to push back or even opt-out at times and whether or not it is intentional these systems are causing real harm to groups or individuals. This book does an excellent job putting into perspective the harms of AI and other algorithms from the mind of an experienced data scientist.