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A comment on Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases. Parent comment

Re:Semantics derived automatically from language corpora con... by anigbrowl on Friday April 14, 2017 @07:36PM (#14118300)
It's inferring something about reality, but what?

Suppose, for example, that I gave this same statistic to someone and then asked them to select from a pool of 100 applicants for 50 available places in medical school. Let's assume that there's an equal # of male and female applicants and that their exam results are all similar. Do you think that knowing about this 66-34 split might influence the gender balance of the final selection?

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Re:Semantics derived automatically from language corpora con... by newsbinator on Friday April 14, 2017 @11:08PM (#14119137)
Knowing about the gender balance wouldn't influence the final selection if you programmed the selection criteria not to be influenced by the gender balance.

The whole point of training and using machines is to make more accurate, more useful decisions in a complex world.

That can't happen if we give them data that isn't borne out by reality, or tell them to ignore data that is.

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Re:Semantics derived automatically from language corpora con... by anigbrowl on Sunday April 16, 2017 @01:30AM (#14124499)
If you have to change the terms of the question to give an answer, then I think I've made my point.
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