“I know how models are built, because I build them myself, so I know that I'm embedding my values into every single algorithm I create and I am projecting my agenda onto those algorithms.” KnowsValuesKnow HowModelsBuiltAgendasAlgorithmsEmbedding Author:Cathy O'Neil
“By construction, the world of big data is siloed and segmented and segregated so that successful people, like myself - technologists, well-educated white people, for the most part - benefit from big data, and it's the people on the other side of the economic spectrum, especially people of color, who suffer from it. They suffer from it individually, at different times, at different moments. They never get a clear explanation of what actually happened to them because all these scores are secret and sometimes they don't even know they're being scored.” PeopleKnowsWorldWellsDifferentSometimesMomentsBigsSufferingSidesWhiteSecretSuccessfulClearHappenedEconomicColorBenefitsEducatedDataExplanationScoreConstructionSuccessful PeopleSpectrumDifferent TimesWell Educated Author:Cathy O'Neil
“When people are not given an option by some secret scoring system, it's very hard to complain, so they often don't even know that they've been victimized.” PeopleKnowsHardGivenSecretComplaining Author:Cathy O'Neil
“We don't let a car company just throw out a car and start driving it around without checking that the wheels are fastened on. We know that would result in death; but for some reason we have no hesitation at throwing out some algorithms untested and unmonitored even when they're making very important life-and-death decisions.” KnowsImportantReasonDecisionResultsCompanyCarDrivingWheelsLife And DeathThrowingHesitationAlgorithmsImportant Life Author:Cathy O'Neil
“Micro-targeting is the ability for a campaign to profile you, to know much more about you than you know about it, and then to choose exactly what to show you.” KnowsShowsAbilityCampaignsProfile Author:Cathy O'Neil
“I think there's inherently an issue that models will literally never be able to handle, which is that when somebody comes along with a new way of doing something that's really excellent, the models will not recognize it. They only know how to recognize excellence when they can measure it somehow.” ThinkingKnowsWayAbleKnow HowIssuesModelsExcellenceHandleExcellentNew Ways Author:Cathy O'Neil
