Amazon used AI to promote diversity. Too bad it’s plagued with gender bias.

AI may have sexist tendencies. But, sorry, the problem is still us humans.

Amazon recently scrapped an employee recruiting algorithm plagued with problems, according to a report from Reuters. Ultimately, the applicant screening algorithm did not return relevant candidates, so Amazon canned the program. But in 2015, Amazon had a more worrisome issue with this AI: it was down-ranking women.

The algorithm was only ever used in trials, and engineers manually corrected for the problems with bias. However, the way the algorithm functioned, and the existence of the product itself, speaks to real problems about gender disparity in tech and non-tech roles, and the devaluation of perceived female work. Read more…

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