Design Bias in Technology and AI
Race
Facial Recognition Software
Gender
Microsoft's Kinect video game product not working on darker skinned people
car crash test dummies not being sized for and therefore tested on the female body
Defining design bias: when a product is designed and created in such a way that a bias is unintentionally produced in the results of the product
HP's facial webcams being unable to operate on Black people
US
The UK
CCTV being shown to contain bias in its reporting to the police
Project Greenlight surveilling predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods
The city of San Francisco banning facial recognition software due to its biases
Finding a solution: including people of color, women, and other marginalized groups in designing and testing technology and AI to ensure the design bias is minimized
VR being shown to have biases against women as they are more prone to sickness if they play
Soap dispensers not working on Black hands in the Atlanta Marriott Hotel
some cities trying to cope or find a solution with design bias
rise of technology like Zoom and other webcams as a result of Covid-19
clearly not exclusively an American problem
a perhaps deadly risk involved in design bias
ICE logging drivers licenses into facial recognition software to identify undocumented immigrants
wrongful displacement (deportation) as a result of design bias
medicine
women being not included, or not well represented in medical studies
smartphones and video game controllers not fitting well in women's hands
potential life threatening effects on their health as their symptoms may be regarded incorrectly