[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #584: No psychics, but we'll get to 'Minority Report' with computers

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OPLIN 4Cast #584: No psychics, but we'll get to 'Minority Report' with
computers
March 7th, 2018

[image: finger on hologram button] When I hear "machine learning," my brain
immediately goes to "artificial intelligence," which movies like
*2001* and *The
Terminator* have led me to believe will turn against us. But while machine
learning is based on theories from artificial intelligence, it has more in
common with computational statistics and data mining: analysis that uses
data to make predictions, and discover and improve the algorithms that lead
to better predictions. I've written about a growing concern with algorithms
<https://4cast.oplin.org/?p=6736> before, but this week, a couple news
stories clustered on "predictive policing" provide concrete examples of the
way this tool can be used (violent crime rates are dropping in Chicago) and
disturbingly misused (punishing people for crimes they haven't committed).

I've come to worry less that the machines will turn against us, but that we
are -- as usual? --using the machines against ourselves.

   -
   - CPD expands predictive policing technology, deploys 86 new officers
   <https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/cpd-expands-predictive-policing-technology-deploys-86-new-officers/>
   [Chicago Sun-Times | Tom Schuba] "Shootings are down by nearly 34 percent
   this year compared to the same period last year in the districts that are
   currently using the tools, the statement said. Those numbers outpace the
   overall 28 percent reduction of citywide shootings so far this year."
   - Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive
   policing technology
   <https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd>
   [The Verge | Ali Winston] "Predictive policing technology has proven highly
   controversial wherever it is implemented, but in New Orleans, the program
   escaped public notice, partly because Palantir established it as a
   philanthropic relationship with the city through Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s
   signature NOLA For Life program."
   - China using big data to detain people before crime is committed
   <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/china-using-big-data-to-detain-people-in-re-education-before-crime-committed-report/article38126551/>
   [The Globe and Mail | Nathan Vanderklippe] "Chinese police theorists have
   identified specific 'extremist behaviours, which include if you store a
   large amount of food in your home, if your child suddenly quits school and
   so on,' said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch].
   Train a computer to look for such conduct, and 'then you have a big data
   program modelled upon pretty racist ideas about peaceful behaviours.'"
   - How to Fight Bias with Predictive Policing
   <https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/how-to-fight-bias-with-predictive-policing/>
   [Scientific American | Eric Siegel] "Predictive policing uncovers racial
   inequity, which it threatens to perpetuate – but, if we turn things around,
   it also presents an unprecedented opportunity to advance social justice."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Kirkpatrick, Keith. "It’s Not the Algorithm, It’s the Data
   <http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=121046366&site=ehost-live>
   ." *Communications of the ACM*, vol. 60, no. 2, Feb. 2017, pp. 21-23.
   - Banchiri, Bamzi. "Unmasking Banksy: Did 'Predictive Policing' Tool
   Catch an Artist?
   <http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=113510062>
   " *Christian Science Monitor*, 05 Mar. 2016.
   - Amala Cyril, Malkia. "Black America’s State of Surveillance
   <http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=101423839&site=ehost-live>
   ." *Progressive*, vol. 79, no. 4, Apr. 2015, p. 30.

------------------------------
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