How can automated decisions be fairer?

Zinc
2 min readJul 10, 2019

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EtiqAI is helping automated decisions become fairer and more accurate by detecting and mitigating unintended bias. We spoke with co-Founders Iris Anson and Raluca Crisa to learn more.

How did EtiqAI come about?

We’re both mum-entrepreneurs and both from international backgrounds. We are strong advocates of diversity and equal opportunities and that’s why we created EtiqAI — a solution to help companies who have implemented automated decisions in their business models to remove unintended bias and provide a fair process for everyone.

How does EtiqAI work?

Skewed data is one of the common causes for biased AI models. As machine learning models increasingly make automated decisions about a wide variety of issues such as policing, insurance and what information people see online, the implications of their recommendations become broader.

Our tool helps encourage the teams who build these models to think of, find and mitigate the negative biases these models amplify at the earliest possible stage before time and money is wasted on biased training methods.

The tool can also help these teams avoid reputational threats to the company they work for, prove that they are trying to meet regulatory requirements such as GDPR or discrimination laws and, more generally, build services appropriate for a variety of groups in their consumer base.

What makes EtiqAI different?

We’re a small startup with a big mission! We’re not Microsoft or Accenture, however we have an independent agenda and agile ability to make things happen.

What does success look like for EtiqAI?

Success means we can help companies use a fairer decision process to improve their customer numbers without having to take on additional financial risks. It means these companies can comply with regulators and increase their bottom line.

What advice do you have for future entrepreneurs?

There will be a lot of ups and downs along the way, don’t get hung-up on any one thing, just keep going forward!

What’s next for your company?

We’re doing a pilot with a large lending company and shortly after we will start our round of fundraising. Keep your eyes peeled!

Join the waitlist at www.etiq.tech and follow @AiEtiq on social media to keep up to date with their exciting work!

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Zinc
Zinc

Written by Zinc

Zinc exists to build and scale a brand-new way to solve the most important societal problems faced by the developed world.