In this episode of The Decision Corner, Brooke Struck sits down with Cathy O’Neil, CEO of ORCAA and author of the New York Times bestseller Weapons of Math Destruction. Having studied and worked at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, MIT, Barnard College, and Columbia, O’Neil has been outspoken about the social risks of algorithms.
In this conversation, O’Neil dives into some of the “invisible” problems that algorithms pose for society, and how decision-makers can create more responsible algorithms to better outcomes for society.
This episode includes discussions about:
- The political nature of algorithms
- How algorithms don’t predict the future, but create conditions for future events to occur
- How algorithms influence predictive policing
- How these biases invade hiring platforms and processes
- The purpose of algorithms, which tend to serve those who create them
- How policymakers and decision-makers can generate more responsibility among technicians