Don't be evil by accident: algorithmic harms and ethics for technologists

Curtis Parfitt-Ford

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Technologists are wizards. Today, we wield the power to effect changes from a tent, a bedroom or an office the likes of which fifty years ago one might need the power of a small nation-state to accomplish.

Having seen these systems from all angles - building the tech, researching digital consent academically, and fighting biased public sector algorithms in the media and the courts - I'm confident that we really haven’t adapted to that reality. In the choices we make in technical practice, we find ourselves paving the road to hell with our good intentions.

Most of us aren't trained in ethics, policy or politics - so how do we manage the weighty burden of being responsible for people’s safety? What can we do – both as individuals and as a society as a whole – to try and stop algorithmic harms? And, how do we stop our robots from killing us?

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