Verb
To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively.
Usage- Intransitive
- neologism
- Transitive
- Examples
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The issue is definitional: "algorithm" has been used to mathwash functionality that would otherwise be considered arbitrary with objectivity
More examples (3)
While our systems can be assistants or even collaborators, we do not want to hand off responsibility to them. When we treat machine learning systems as oracles, rather than as assistants, we are headed in the wrong direction. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that a decision is fair because it is algorithmic. We can't afford to "mathwash" important decisions.
Deliberate mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is tweaked in order to course correct or skew the bias. Facebook allegedly mathwashed when it routinely suppressed conservative news in 2016.
Striking Instacart workers have also opposed the company's "black box" app, which sets workers' pay via an unintelligible model that "mathwashes" their exploitation.