Raising Robots

To the extent that machine learning relies on large, “naturally occurring” datasets that are rife with racial (and economic and gendered) biases, the raw data that robots are using to learn and make decisions about the world reflect deeply ingrained cultural prejudices and structural hierarchies.27 Reflecting on the connection between workforce diversity and skewed datasets, one tech company representative noted that, “if the training data is produced by a racist society, it won’t matter who is on the team, but the people who are affected should also be on the team.”28 As machines become more “intelligent,” that is, as they learn to think more like humans, they are likely to become more racist. But this is not inevitable, so long as we begin to take seriously and address the matter of how racism structures the social and technical components of design.

So, are robots racist? Not if by “racism” we only mean white hoods and racial slurs.29 Too often people assume that racism and other forms of bias must be triggered by an explicit intent to harm; for example, linguist John McWhorter argued in Time magazine that “[m]achines cannot, themselves, be racists. Even equipped with artificial intelligence, they have neither brains nor intention.”30 But this assumes that self-conscious intention is what makes something racist. Those working in the belly of the tech industry know that this conflation will not hold up to public scrutiny. As one Google representative lamented, “[r]ather than treating malfunctioning algorithms as malfunctioning machines (‘classification errors’), we are increasingly treating tech like asshole humans.” He went on to propose that “we [programmers] need to stop the machine from behaving like a jerk because it can look like it is being offensive on purpose.”31 If machines are programmed to carry out tasks, both they and their designers are guided by some purpose, that is to say, intention. And in the face of discriminatory effects, if those with the power to design differently choose business as usual, then they are perpetuating a racist system whether or not they are card-carrying members of their local chapter of Black Lives Matter.