Problem is, AI isn’t prejudice proof

An expert group is advising the Australian Research Council on a “modern, data driven assessment model” to replace Excellence in Research for Australia – the iteration scheduled for 2023 is ditched, (CMM September 28).

But “modern” may not turn out to be a synonym for superior, if AI is driving the data.

In a new paper for data analytics provider Clarivate, Martin Szomszor, warns, “the research system and the data we collect about it capture many forms of prejudice relating to gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, age and more.

“Without proper consideration of these, machine learning solutions will only propagate these existing biases.”

But at least a data based research ranking might reduce workloads. Curtin U’s Open Knowledge Initiative has a pilot ranking using public datasets which could do that (CMM September 21).