royapakzad
Joined 11 years ago
Karma
40
Submissions
7
Member since
Oct 20
Working on the intersection of technology and human rights. @RoyaPak
View on Hacker NewsRecent submissions
Comment · 7 years ago
That was not my intention; I added a disclaimer showing that I’m not affiliated. I raised some real human rights concerns; IBM or any third party companies using the tool should take them seriously. The issue is that companies do use these tools, mostly in HR departments; recruiters can attest. Another interesting paper on hiring and algorithmic decision making that you might be interested:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3408010
Comment · 8 years ago
At least Maven project proved they might not be able to do privately if tech workers stand against it.
Comment · 8 years ago
It is well attested that these human rights declarations have a strong western bias. I am personally fine with that. But what about other societies that don't agree with the declarations? There will need to be international treaties and policies, similar to nuclear policies, that keep everyone on board.
I think you are right. It's very hard to have a common understanding of human values and ethics. But regarding "rights" and their universality, I should say how is it "well attested that these human rights declarations have a strong western bias?" I agree there are biases, cultural differences, etc. But, do we have any other framework that is more universal (and well-defined) than human rights? I myself am from a non-western developing country, I studied EE and also Human Rights Studies. With regards to AI and ethics, in fact, whenever I talk to non-western individuals they emphasize on the importance of human rights framework instead of abstract words such as "ethics", "values", etc.
This might surprise you but 185 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women except "the US" and 6 other countries including Sudan, Somalia, etc. the US has neither ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. You can find out about all the countries here, you'll be surprised: http://indicators.ohchr.org/
My point is not to speak negatively about the US and its commitment to the international human rights treaties but to mention that these treaties are more universal than you think. At a digital rights conference, I spoke with a Tunisian digital rights activist, I used a phrase "ethics in AI" and she corrected me to actually say the word "human rights." Because it has a clear framework, it has clear indicators and metrics to measure (to some extent), it's legally binding (depending on different cases and with respect to certain actors), not anybody (in this case any company) can create its own definition and interpretation.