Understand, Manage, and Prevent Algorithmic Bias: A Guide for Business Users and Data Scientists

© Tobias Baer 2019

Tobias BaerUnderstand, Manage, and Prevent Algorithmic Biashttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4885-0_17

17. How to Generate Unbiased Data

Tobias Baer¹ 

(1)

Kaufbeuren, Germany

 

One motto of our times could be “data is the new gold”—however, it will shine only if it is pure and free of dirt. Biased data can be lethally polluted and thus worthless. For example, a tax authority once asked me to help them build an algorithm to direct customs inspectors to those containers in the port that were most likely to contain contraband. The project could not go ahead because the only data they had was from a very limited number of customs inspections their officers had done in the past year. The problem: Customs inspectors had chosen which containers ...