Escaping the Impossibility of Fairness: From Formal to Substantive Algorithmic Fairness

BKC Faculty Associate Ben Green writes about the challenge of creating equitable policy reforms around algorithmic fairness.

“Efforts to promote equitable public policy with algorithms appear to be fundamentally constrained by the ‘impossibility of fairness’ (an incompatibility between mathematical definitions of fairness). This technical limitation raises a central question about algorithmic fairness: How can computer scientists and policymakers support equitable policy reforms with algorithms? In this article, I argue that promoting justice with algorithms requires reforming the methodology of algorithmic fairness.”

Read more in Philosophy & Technology.