If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s (2005) Blink or Simon Sinek’s (2011) Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, you will understand that decisions are made with adaptive unconscious or our heart in a matter of seconds. We use the data that we have gathered to support and justify the decision (Gladwell, 2005; Sinek, 2011). From a corporate perspective, more recently, we have been focused on unconscious bias and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our intentions are worthless without thoughtful action (Acton, February 4, 2022). This concept is vital to raise awareness of our mental shortcuts that lead to snap judgments—often based on race and gender—about people’s talents or character (Gino & Coffman, 2021). Having undergone several corporate training programs on cognitive bias, in completing the Detain/Release task, I consciously chose not to consider the name, age, or sex of the defendant. Instead, I looked at the type of crime they were charged with, the statement from the defendant, their flight risk (failure to appear), potential to commit another crime and potential for violence. To further reduce bias, I completed the task before reading, watching, or listening to any material provided for the unit. The following is the decision flowchart I utilized to base my decisions.
Drug arrests were rated as non-violent. As highlighted, even if the defendant were unlikely to appear, I would release them if their chance of committing another crime or acting with violence was low. They were detained for crimes that were likely to escalate, such as theft, and the defendant was not likely to appear before the court and would likely commit a crime again and act violently. Any violent crime, such as carjacking or rape, would go directly to being detained. Using this method, while I did have some re-offenders for drug crimes, I was able to manage the population within the detention facility and fear within the community.
While I have not quoted from the readings, videos or podcasts, the sentiments of Drs. O’Neil and Vallor strongly resonated with me. Having a science background, I understand the importance of mathematical models and algorithms to speed up research and protect public health. I believe many personality and competency tests have merit from human resources and a personal development perspective. Algorithms have their place and can be deployed for broader use, including enforcing the law, however, only if developed by removing unconscious bias and thoughtfully considering unintended consequences.
To quote Silberg and Manyika (June 6, 2019),
“AI has the potential to help humans make fairer decisions—but only if we carefully work toward fairness in AI systems as well.”
References:
Acton, C. (February 4, 2022). Are you aware of your biases? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2022/02/are-you-aware-of-your-biases
Gino, F., & Coffman, K. (2021). Unconscious bias training that works. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2021/09/unconscious-bias-training-that-works
Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking (1st ed.). Little, Brown and Co.
Santa Clara University. (2018, November 6). Lessons from the AI Mirror Shannon Vallor. [Video]. YouTube.
Silberg, J., & Manyika, J. (June 6, 2019). Tackling bias in artificial intelligence (and in humans). McKinsey & Company. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/tackling-bias-in-artificial-intelligence-and-in-humans
Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Portfolio / Penguin.
Talks at Google. (2016, November 2). Weapons of math destruction | Cathy O’Neil | Talks at Google. [Video]. YouTube.