A report from New York University’s AI Now Institute has found a predominantly white male coding workforce is causing bias in algorithms. The report highlights that – while gradually narrowing – the lack of diverse representation at major technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook is causing AIs to cater more towards white males. For example, at Facebook just 15 percent of the company’s AI staff are women. The problem is even more substantial at Google where just 10 percent are female. Report authors Sarah Myers West, Meredith Whittaker and Kate Crawford wrote: “To date, the diversity problems of the AI industry and the issues of bias in the systems it builds have tended to be considered separately. We suggest that these are two versions of the same problem: issues of discrimination in the workforce and in system building are deeply intertwined.” As artificial intelligence becomes used more across society, there’s a danger of some gr...