Day 24 Pre-Class - Data Dilemmas: Ethics in an Algorithmic World

Day 24 Pre-Class - Data Dilemmas: Ethics in an Algorithmic World#

✅ Put your name here
#

Goals for Today’s Pre-Class Assignment#

By the end of this assignment, you should be able to:

Evaluate the impact the data and algorithmic bias can have on real-life decisions
Differentiate between intent and impact of Machine Learning models
Identify benefits and consequences of using ML and AI tools
Compare similarities between models and simulations to real-life inequities
Read and interpret professional code built to create a simulation

Assignment instructions#

In today’s assignment, we’ll be talking about bias that’s inherent in data and the implications it can have on hiring practices.

Survival of the Best Fit#

The simulation you are going to interact with today, “Survival of the Best Fit,” was developed by Gabor Csapo, Jihyun Kim, Miha Klasinc, and Alia ElKattan. Their intention was to create an accessible tool to educate individuals on the impact of ML and AI tools in our everyday lives. As we’ve learned during this semester and continue to discover, machine learning models can perpetuate human biases and inequities.

Play the Game#

Congrats! You scored 1 million dollars from Orange Valley ventures to build your own startup! In order to create a successful business, you need to hire folks to work with you. As in the real-world, each individual has their own set of unique skills and you need to decide if they are a good fit for your start up.

After doing this for some time, you realize reviewing and interviewing new potential candidates is taking up a lot of hours in your hectic work week! You decide to implement a machine learning model to recommend new hires based on the resumes of individuals you have previously hired.

✅ Spend about 10 minutes playing a round of Surival of the Best Fit. The simulation will walk you through how to hire individuals and the implementation of the ML model.

Thinking About the Games#

✅ Answer the following questions in the cells below based on your experience of interacting with “Survival of the Best Fit.”

Reflection: intent vs impact:
1. Why was an algorithm implemented in the first place to assist in hiring new individuals? What was the intention of using machine learning? Was the intention malicious?
2. How did you feel when you were playing the game? Reflect on how these emotions might have contributed to the decisions that were made within the simulation.
3. What was the impact on the candidates of using an algorithm to assist in the hiring process?
What was your strategy when deciding who to hire? How did the game react to your choices?
Were you surprised by the tendencies of the algorithm? Why or why not?
If you have time, play through the simulation a few times. What aspects stay the same, and what changes, regardless of the choices you make?

✎ Put your answers here!

Learning a Little More#

After you finish the game, you should be brought to a resources pages on “Understanding Algorithmic Bias”.

✅ Spend a few minutes reading through the different sections. Record any thoughts or questions you have about the content in the cell below.

✎ Put your thoughts here!

In class, we will spend time looking through how the data and the game were constructed. We will compare how the choices the creators of the simulation made and how they mimic real-life biases and inequities.

Assignment wrap-up#

Please fill out the form that appears when you run the code below. You must completely fill this out in order to receive credit for the assignment!

from IPython.display import HTML
HTML(
"""
<iframe 
	src="https://cmse.msu.edu/cmse201-pc-survey" 
	width="800" 
	height="800px" 
	frameborder="0" 
	marginheight="0" 
	marginwidth="0">
	Loading...
</iframe>
"""
)

Congratulations, you’re done!#

Submit this assignment by uploading your notebook to the course web page.

See you next class!

This assignment was designed by Emily Bolger and Rachel Roca(2024).