Use this new Slack plug-in to combat unconscious bias in the workplace

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Aggressive, bossy, dramatic. Chances are, if you’re a women, you’ve heard these word used to describe — and demean — you or a coworker. 

That needs to change. To alter the way people think and talk about ambitious women, the global nonprofit Catalyst, with the help of New York-based agency Burns Group and technology company Eskalera, launched the #BiasCorrect plug-in and campaign, which aims to combat unconscious bias in the workplace by flagging problematic words employees write in Slack and other chat platforms. Similar to spell-check, the tool highlights words like “cold” and “aggressive” and then recommends alternatives, such as “focused” and “persuasive.”  Read more…

More about Slack, Bias, Workplace Messaging Apps, Workplace Culture, and Social Good

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Applied gets $2M to make hiring fairer — using algorithms, not AI

London-based startup Applied has bagged £1.5M (~$2M) in seed funding for a fresh, diversity-sensitive approach to recruitment that deconstructs and reworks the traditional CV-bound process, drawing on behavioural science to level the playing field and help employers fill vacancies with skilled candidates they might otherwise have overlooked. Fairer hiring is the pitch. “If you’re hiring for […]

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Unbiased algorithms can still be problematic

Creating unbiased, accurate algorithms isn’t impossible — it’s just time consuming. “It actually is mathematically possible,” facial recognition startup Kairos CEO Brian Brackeen told me on a panel at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Algorithms are sets of rules that computers follow in order to solve problems and make decisions about a particular course of action. Whether […]

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White House says a draft executive order reviewing social media companies is not “official”

A draft executive order circulating around the White House “is not the result of an official White House policymaking process,” according to deputy White House press secretary, Lindsay Walters. According to a report in The Washington Post, Walters denied that White House staff had worked on a draft executive order that would require every federal agency to […]

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IBM launches cloud tool to detect AI bias and explain automated decisions

IBM has launched a software service that scans AI systems as they work in order to detect bias and provide explanations for the automated decisions being made — a degree of transparency that may be necessary for compliance purposes not just a company’s own due diligence. The new trust and transparency system runs on the […]

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Integrate.ai pulls in $30M to help businesses make better customer-centric decisions

Helping businesses bring more firepower to the fight against AI-fuelled disruptors is the name of the game for Integrate.ai, a Canadian startup that’s announcing a $30M Series A today. The round is led by Portag3 Ventures . Other VCs include Georgian Partners, Real Ventures, plus other (unnamed) individual investors also participating. The funding will be […]

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Political anonymity may help us see both sides of a divisive issue online

Some topics are so politically charged that even to attempt a discussion online is to invite toxicity and rigid disagreement among participants. But a new study finds that exposure to the views of others, minus their political affiliation, could help us overcome our own biases.

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Open hiring helps people get jobs based on their ability to work, not their past

After years of exclusion, people with non-traditional work histories are finding new job opportunities thanks to businesses that are embracing more inclusive hiring practices. That approach means that applicants who have experienced homelessness, inc…

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Adblock Plus wants to use blockchain to call out fake news

eyeo, the company behind the popular browser-based ad block product Adblock Plus, is no stranger to controversy. Which is just as well given its new “passion project”: A browser add-on that labels news content as ‘trusted’ or, well, Breitbart. The beta browser extension, which is called Trusted News (initially it’s just available for Chrome), is intended to […]

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