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The artificial intelligence sector is facing a "crisis of diversity," researchers at the AI Now Institute said in a report released today, raising key questions about the world. land orientation.
According to the report, women and people of color are deeply underrepresented, highlighting studies according to which about 80% of AI professors are men, while only 15% of researchers in Facebook and 10% of Google are women. People of color are also sidelined and represent only a fraction of the staff of large technology companies. This results in a workforce often motivated by male and white perspectives, which creates tools that often affect other groups of people. "It's not the diversity of people affected by these systems," said Meredith Whittaker, co-director of the AI Now Institute.
Even worse, projects to improve the problem by repairing the "pipeline" of potential job candidates have largely failed. "Despite several decades of ongoing studies evaluating the flow of diverse candidates from school to industry, there has been no substantial progress in diversity in the AI sector," the researchers write. .
The researchers make suggestions to improve the problem. In their view, companies could improve transparency by publishing more data on pay, broken down by race and gender, and publishing reports on the transparency of harassment and discrimination.
Diversity, while constituting an obstacle for the technology industry, presents specific dangers for AI, where potentially biased technology, such as facial recognition, can disproportionately affect historically marginalized groups. Tools such as a facial analysis program to determine sexuality, introduced in 2017, echo the injustices of the past, write the researchers. Rigorous tests are necessary. But more than that, manufacturers of artificial intelligence tools must be willing to not build the most risky projects. "We need to know that these systems are safe and fair," said Kate Crawford, co-director of the AI Now Institute.
Technology industry employees have taken a stand on some of the major issues in artificial intelligence by urging their companies to abandon or revise the use of sensitive tools that may harm vulnerable groups. Amazon workers questioned the executives about the company's facial recognition product. Recently, Google workers have reacted against an artificial intelligence review board including the president of the Heritage Foundation, highlighting the group's history of lobbying against LGBTQ rights. The company quickly dissolved the board entirely.
"The crisis of diversity in AI is well documented and far reaching," the researchers conclude. "This is seen in unequal workplaces in industry and academia, in hiring and promotion disparities, in AI technologies that reflect and magnify biased stereotypes, and in the resurgence of of biological determinism in automated systems. "
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