Twitter launches initiative studying its algorithms for bias, ‘unintended harms’

Twitter announced Wednesday, April 14, it had launched an initiative to study the effects of its machine learning (ML) algorithms and assess if the algorithms are causing undue harm.

The initiative, called Responsible Machine Learning or Responsible ML, lets Twitter’s interdisciplinary ML Ethics, Transparency and Accountability (META) team “assess downstream or current unintentional harms in the algorithms we use and to help Twitter prioritize which issues to tackle first.”

Three analyses Twitter will have out in the coming months are the following:

• A gender and racial bias analysis of the image cropping (saliency) algorithm
• A fairness assessment of the home timeline recommendations across racial subgroups
• An analysis of content recommendations for different political ideologies across 7 countries 

The findings from their analysis will be the basis for some changes on the service, which they hope will improve Twitter as a whole.

Said Twitter about the potential impact, ” This may result in changing our product, such as removing an algorithm and giving people more control over the images they Tweet, or in new standards into how we design and build policies when they have an outsized impact on one particular community.”

The company added, “The results of this work may not always translate into visible product changes, but it will lead to heightened awareness and important discussions around the way we build and apply ML.” – Rappler.com