Datasets aren’t simply raw materials to feed algorithms, but are political interventions. As such, much of the discussion around 'bias' in AI systems misses the mark: there is no 'neutral,' 'natural,' or 'apolitical' vantage point that training data can be built upon. There is no easy technical 'fix' by shifting demographics, deleting offensive... See more

 Sometimes it can seem as though the algorithms are impartial ... [but] as many have pointed out, algorithms encode the biases of those who program them, and amplify the biases inherent in whatever the data sets they draw on.

The winning strategies over the next decade will not be those that maximize short-term AI deployment. They will be those that build and maintain access to high-quality information flows—genuine human expertise, carefully curated training corpora, institutional knowledge that has not been corrupted by synthetic recursion.