NYC School of Data 2020

Algorithms are increasingly allowed by NY city and state government to make automated decisions about people that dramatically impact their lives. Governing everything from access to benefits, exposure to surveillance, and in some cases even release from jail, algorithms have been proven time and again to be biased reflections of their creators, and of our own flawed human past. NYC was poised to become a national leader in assessing and preventing algorithmic harm, but the group responsible for accomplishing this task was unable to properly and completely do the job. This panel will discuss the nature of these systems, what they do, why experts oppose their use, and the failure of NYC government to adequately protect our people from the racist algorithms city government may be using today.