We might not realize it, but computer algorithms are everywhere.
Automated decision systems (“ADS”) – software tools or processes that aid human decision-making – are widely used by governments and private industry in a growing number of fields including the criminal, education, and health care systems.
The problem is, these ADS are often steeped in bias that is cloaked in the veneer of objective, data-based calculations – which disproportionately harm people of color and other marginalized populations. What data goes into them, and how they reach their decisions are usually shielded from the public. They risk severely undermining the civil, human, and privacy rights of New Yorkers.
The NYCLU is dedicated to uncovering the impacts of ADS, making their operation more transparent, helping to eliminate the biases hidden within them, and to enact outright bans on ADS that discriminate against New Yorkers.