Abstract
In the last chapter, you learned how to assess the risk of a particular algorithm being biased. The conclusion was that in many situations, we may find that a certain risk of algorithmic bias is present but that based on a cost-benefit analysis, the algorithm will still make better decisions than other approaches (such as even more biased humans). This situation can be compared to a life-saving medicine with serious side-effects. Just as the doctor will try to find ways to alleviate the side-effects of a medication, in this chapter we will discuss what steps you can take to protect yourself from algorithmic bias.
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- 1.
An old joke might illustrate this: after a door-to-door sales rep extolled the many technical strengths of his product, the latest and most advanced vacuum cleaner on the market, he emptied a bag full of dust on the floor and enthusiastically exclaimed that he would eat any dust from the floor his vacuum cleaner could not vacuum away. His customer, a farmer, handed the rep a spoon and asked, “And how will the vacuum cleaner work given that we have no electricity in the house?”
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Note that simple algorithms often will throw up an error if even one input field is missing. At times this is actually useful; however, because in many such situations it is still possible to produce a useful estimate, more advanced algorithms perform so-called missing value imputation—but this errs on the opposite side and you will even get an estimate if all inputs are missing!
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© 2019 Tobias Baer
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Baer, T. (2019). How to Use Algorithms Safely. In: Understand, Manage, and Prevent Algorithmic Bias. Apress, Berkeley, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4885-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4885-0_14
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Publisher Name: Apress, Berkeley, CA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4842-4884-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4842-4885-0
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