From platforms that screen mortgage applications and résumés to predicting the likelihood defendants will re-offend, AI systems and the algorithms behind them are relied on to make quick and efficient decisions in areas with major consequences, including healthcare, hiring, and criminal justice.
Though the potential for AI is immense, its early adoption has been beset by recurring challenges: a home-loan processing algorithm was far more likely to deny applications from people of color than white applicants; hiring algorithms meant to screen applicants are increasingly being used without a hard look under the hood, and AI-powered software used by the U.S. criminal justice system was twice as likely to falsely predict future criminality in black defendants as white defendants.
Now more than ever – at the dawn of an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted future, Cornell’s leadership in AI and in areas of ethics and fairness in technology is both guiding the development of better, fairer AI and shaping the minds of future AI innovators.