Book contents
- The Age of Algorithms
- The Age of Algorithms
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Algorithms Intrigue, Algorithms Disturb
- 2 What Is an Algorithm?
- 3 Algorithms, Computers, and Programs
- 4 What Algorithms Do
- 5 What Algorithms Don’t Do
- 6 Computational Thinking
- 7 The End of Employment
- 8 The End of Work
- 9 The End of Property
- 10 Governing in the Age of Algorithms
- 11 An Algorithm in the Community
- 12 The Responsibility of Algorithms
- 13 Personal Data and Privacy
- 14 Fairness, Transparency, and Diversity
- 15 Computer Science and Ecology
- 16 Computer Science Education
- 17 The Augmented Human
- 18 Can an Algorithm Be Intelligent?
- 19 Can an Algorithm Have Feelings?
- 20 Time to Choose
12 - The Responsibility of Algorithms
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2020
Book contents
- The Age of Algorithms
- The Age of Algorithms
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Algorithms Intrigue, Algorithms Disturb
- 2 What Is an Algorithm?
- 3 Algorithms, Computers, and Programs
- 4 What Algorithms Do
- 5 What Algorithms Don’t Do
- 6 Computational Thinking
- 7 The End of Employment
- 8 The End of Work
- 9 The End of Property
- 10 Governing in the Age of Algorithms
- 11 An Algorithm in the Community
- 12 The Responsibility of Algorithms
- 13 Personal Data and Privacy
- 14 Fairness, Transparency, and Diversity
- 15 Computer Science and Ecology
- 16 Computer Science Education
- 17 The Augmented Human
- 18 Can an Algorithm Be Intelligent?
- 19 Can an Algorithm Have Feelings?
- 20 Time to Choose
Summary
Can an algorithm do harm? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is fairly predictable. Like any tool, an algorithm can be used for better or for worse. For example, if most people receive a pay stub every month produced by an algorithm, it would be very easy to modify the algorithm to add a bonus for certain employees depending on their nationality, skin color, gender, or political opinions. Such discrimination is morally reprehensible whether it is carried out by a human or an algorithm.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Age of Algorithms , pp. 96 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020