Name: The era of blind faith in big data must end
Uploaded: 2017-08-22T14:45:41Z
Duration: 13 min 9 s
Description: Algorithms decide who gets a loan, who gets a job interview, who gets insurance and much more -- but they don't automatically make things fair. Mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil coined a term for algorithms that are secret, important and harmful: "weapons of math destruction." Learn more about the hidden agendas behind the formulas.

Cathy O'Neil: The era of blind faith in big data must end

The era of blind faith in big data must end

Algorithms decide who gets a loan, who gets a job interview, who gets insurance and much more -- but they don't automatically make things fair. Mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil coined a term for algorithms that are secret, important and harmful: "weapons of math destruction." Learn more about the hidden agendas behind the formulas.

Algorithms secretly shape who gets jobs, loans, and justice, but their formulas often remain hidden and unaccountable. When schools used a complex teacher-scoring algorithm, even top-performing teachers were fired because the scores resembled random numbers. These systems often repeat historic inequalities by defining success through biased data. True fairness requires auditing algorithms for bias, accuracy, and long-term impact.