Twitter launches bug bounty contest to detect algorithmic bias

presented plans for a competition with a difference. This time around, instead of paying researchers who find out, Twitter will reward those who find examples of as yet undiscovered bias in its image cropping algorithm.

In April, Twitter announced that it would study the creation of its algorithms, starting with that of cropping images. It started in an attempt to focus on the more interesting parts of the images in the previews. Some users have criticized, saying the algorithm tends to focus on people with lighter skin in photos.

“In May, we our approach to identifying biases in our salience algorithm (also known as the image cropping algorithm), and we made our code available for others to replicate our work, ”Twitter . “We want to take this work further by inviting and engaging the community to help identify the potential damage of this algorithm beyond what we ourselves have identified.”

Twitter says it’s the “industry’s first algorithmic bias bounty contest” and offers cash prizes of up to $ 3,500. Rumman Chowdhury, Director of Twitter’s Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Team, that the company is running the competition “because we believe people should be rewarded for identifying these problems, and we cannot solve these challenges alone.” The winners will be announced at a DEF CON AI Village workshop held on Twitter on August 8th.