Automatically signaling quality? A study of the fairness-economic tradeoffs in reducing bias through AI/ML on digital platforms

Digital platforms have a widely-documented issue with bias, which can impact their bottom line via missed opportunities, bad publicity, or even legal action. There is evidence that bias decreases when a platform conveys a signal of quality for underrepresented groups. In this talk, Lauren Rhue from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland discusses the practicalities of implementing a fair and equitable designation of quality for crowdfunding projects with Kickstarter.com’s Projects We Love (PWL) badge and the potential economic tradeoffs.

For more on the Digital Initiative, check out https://digital.hbs.edu​.