--- title: "Scientists Create “Deliberately” Biased AI That Judges You as Brutally as Your Mother-in-Law" description: "Machine learning researchers are teaching neural networks how to superficially judge humans — and the results are pretty brutal." date: "2022-04-25" modified: "2022-04-25" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-deliberately-biased-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "algorithmic bias" - "artificial intelligence" - "machine learning" - "neural networks" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Create “Deliberately” Biased AI That Judges You as Brutally as Your Mother-in-Law ![Machine learning researchers are teaching neural networks how to superficially judge humans — and the results are pretty brutal.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Judge, Jury, Executioner Machine learning researchers are teaching neural networks how to superficially judge humans — and the results are as brutal as they are familiar. A study about the judgmental AI, [published in the prestigious *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* journal](), describes how researchers trained the model how to judge attributes in human faces, the way we do upon first meeting each other, and how they trained it to manipulate photos to evoke different judgments, such as appearing "trustworthy" or "dominant." "Our dataset not only contains bias," Princeton computer science postdoctoral researcher [Joshua Peterson wrote in a tweet thread]() about the research, "it deliberately reflects it." https://twitter.com/joshuacpeterson/status/1517224879136796672 ## Human Error The *PNAS* paper notes that the AI so mirrored human judgment that it tended to associate objective physical characteristics, such as someone's size or skin color, with attributes ranging from trustworthiness to privilege. Indeed, in his thread [Peterson explained]() that most of the 34 judgment values the researchers trained the AI to assign had corresponding political inferences. For instance, when [using the study's interactive site](), Futurism found that the algorithm marked white faces as more "conservative," and when one searches for "liberal" on the study's interactive site, most of the faces it comes up with are people of color. In a [press release](), cognitive scientist and AI researcher Jordan W. Suchow of the Stevens Institute of Technology, who worked on the study, admitted that "we need to be careful about how this technology is used," since it could conceivably take on nefarious purposes like boosting or tarnishing a public figure's reputation. ## Biased Much? Though it's fairly esoteric, Suchow noted in the press release that this kind of machine learning can "study people’s biased first impressions of one another." "Given a photo of your face, we can use this algorithm to predict what people’s first impressions of you would be," he added, "and which stereotypes they would project onto you when they see your face." With [AI bias being an increasingly salient issue](), this paradigm twist is as delightful as it is telling. You can check out the interactive research yourself at [OneMillionImpressions.com](). **READ MORE:** [Deep models of superficial face judgments]() \[*Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*\] **More on AI:** [*Welcome to “Robot Hell”! Meet the Deranged Genius Who Created an AI Version of @Dril*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()