AI for All: Identifying AI incidents Related to Diversity and Inclusion

TL;DR

This paper systematically analyzes AI incidents related to diversity and inclusion, revealing that nearly half involve biases like racial, gender, and age discrimination, and provides tools to better understand and address these issues.

Contribution

It introduces a decision tree for identifying D&I issues in AI incidents and creates a public repository to support responsible and inclusive AI development.

Findings

Almost 50% of AI incidents relate to D&I issues.

Racial, gender, and age discrimination are most common.

The decision tree aids in diagnosing D&I-related biases.

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies has introduced both significant advancements and challenges, with diversity and inclusion (D&I) emerging as a critical concern. Addressing D&I in AI is essential to reduce biases and discrimination, enhance fairness, and prevent adverse societal impacts. Despite its importance, D&I considerations are often overlooked, resulting in incidents marked by built-in biases and ethical dilemmas. Analyzing AI incidents through a D&I lens is crucial for identifying causes of biases and developing strategies to mitigate them, ensuring fairer and more equitable AI technologies. However, systematic investigations of D&I-related AI incidents are scarce. This study addresses these challenges by identifying and understanding D&I issues within AI systems through a manual analysis of AI incident databases (AIID and AIAAIC). The research develops a decision tree to investigate D&I issues tied to AI incidents and populate a public repository of D&I-related AI incidents. The decision tree was validated through a card sorting exercise and focus group discussions. The research demonstrates that almost half of the analyzed AI incidents are related to D&I, with a notable predominance of racial, gender, and age discrimination. The decision tree and resulting public repository aim to foster further research and responsible AI practices, promoting the development of inclusive and equitable AI systems.