Slides from 2 hour workshop on understanding what algorithms are, how they are made, why there are problems, how you can audit them and how to live with them.

1. I am an
algorithm
Understanding bias in coding

2. Alastair
Somerville

3. @acuity_design

4. Safety

5. Workshop goals

6. To understand
– what is an Algorithm
–why it creates problems
–how can we react

7. What is an
Algorithm?

9. Algorithmic
thought

10. It’s a recipe

11. Quick exercise

12. Write down how to
make a pot of
coffee

13. Making coffee in a pot:
1. Get a pot, the size depends on home many people you are making the
coffee for.
2. Pour water into the pot until the pot is almost filled with water.
3. Put the pot on the stove an turn the stove on.
4. Let the water in the pot boil for five minutes.
5. After that you get the can that contains the coffee grains and put scoops
of coffee in the boiling pot.(the amount of scoops you put may vary
depending on how many people you are making the coffee for).
6. You let the pot now containing the boiled hot water and coffee grains
boil for another minute.
7. You turn off the stove and remove the pot from the stove.
8. You take out another pot for the next procedure.
9. You pour the water and the coffee grains that the first pot contain into a
percolator and into the second pot.
10. Finally you you pour the substance into a cup and add as many
sugars, creme, and milk as you like and you enjoy it.

14. It’s a way of recording
and remembering
tasks over time and
amongst people

16. Nigella Lawson’s
cookbooks will not
destroy human
society

17. But that’s not
enough

18. Automation

20. Bad if you are a
barista

21. But that’s not
enough

22. Autonomy

24. Decision making

25. Artificial
Intelligence

26. Judgements

27. Drones

29. Do NOT operate
Algorithm without
Human
supervision

30. Bit too far

31. Algorithms are

32. Algorithms are written
recipes

33. Algorithms are written
recipes for decision
making

34. Algorithms are written
recipes for semi-
autonomous decision
making

35. Why are
Algorithms a
problem?

36. What algorithms
worry you now in
your life?

37. Financial
Consumer
Social
Informational

38. Ranking
Prioritisation
Classification
Association
Filtering

39. The Fears

40. Autonomy of
machine reduces
agency of human

41. The loss of
intelligibility

42. The Black Box
Society
Frank Pasquale

47. The box is opaque
to human
understanding...

48. ...but the contents
are created by
humans

49. It is intelligible but
not accessible

50. Exercise

51. Amazon
Recommendation
s

52. Try to understand
– what data goes in
– what comes out
– what do Amazon put in the box

53. Need a framework

54. What can we do?

55. Political
Personal

56. Political

58. Create
transparency

60. Transparency is
not enough

61. Code is law
Lawrence Lessig

62. Legislate an
intelligible society

63. Long term change

64. Personal

65. Intelligible life

66. Creating a toolkit

67. Short term skills

68. Critical thinking

69. ALGORITHMIC
ACCOUNTABILITY
REPORTING ON THE
INVESTIGATION OF
BLACK BOXES
NICHOLAS DIAKOPOULOS,
PH.D.

70. Reverse
engineering

71. The Message
Machine

72. Understanding a
campaign
donation request
algorithm

74. 1
What do they
know?

76. Input correlates to
output

78. Names
Ages
Addresses

79. Names
Ages
Addresses

80. Names
Ages
Addresses
Donation history

81. Beware

82. Correlation does not
imply
causation, nor intent on
the part of the designer

83. 2
What do they
want?

84. Understand their
needs

85. Donations
Proof of data
More data

86. Semi autonomous
algorithm

87. Adaptive
algorithm

89. The algorithm
adapts and that
change is visible

90. Your Amazon
homepage

91. What changes
what appears on
the Homepage?

92. Be mindful of your
digital places

93. Take screenshots

94. Use social
connections and
conversation

95. Compare your
page to a friend’s
page

96. Algorithms are not
just about you

97. The trick is in our
humanity

98. Algorithms are
coded by humans

99. Understand the
coder not the
code

100. A Toolkit

101. Think backwards
Use correlation carefully
Make comparisons over
time
Imagine what the coder
wants
Talk to your friends

102. Think backwards
Use correlation carefully
Make comparisons over
time
Imagine what the coder
wants
Talk to your friends

103. Think backwards
Use correlation carefully
Make comparisons over
time
Imagine what the coder
wants
Talk to your friends

104. Think backwards
Use correlation carefully
Make comparisons over
time
Imagine what the coder
wants
Talk to your friends

105. Think backwards
Use correlation carefully
Make comparisons over
time
Imagine what the coder
wants
Talk to your friends

106. Finishing up

107. What is an Algorithm
Why it creates
problems
How can we react

108. What

109. Algorithms are written
recipes for semi-
autonomous decision
making

110. Why

111. Ranking
Prioritisation
Classification
Association
Filtering

112. The loss of
intelligibility

113. How

114. Short term: use
social
Long term: use
political

115. Thank you

116. Q&A