Beware of replicating sexism in AI, experts warn

"We're all very aware the machines will learn the same

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bias as those who coded them," Emma McGuiguan, in charge of technology at consultants Accenture, said at the Mobile World Congress.

AI is the science of programming machines or computers to reproduce human processes, like learning and decision making.

Julie Woods-Moss, chief innovation officer at Indian mobile operator Tata Communications, said that in order to do this, a large amount of human-led data was needed.

"We have to be very careful that we don't encourage AI to be biased," she said, calling on professionals in the sector to find ways to identify these biases.

Woods-Moss said there should be ways to "consciously look for this bias—for instance if you start seeing patterns that say 'man is the doctor' or 'woman is the nurse'."

She also criticised the fact that "most personal assistants are female," giving as an example in cars, the underlying assumption is that the driver is a man and will want to hear a female voice on the GPS device.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-beware-replicating-sexism-ai-experts.html#jCp