November 28, 2023
Ministry justifies racial glitch software
A Māori data and technology expert says the new government should think carefully before rolling out digital identification software – because of bias against non-white people.
The Ministry Of Social Development has begun a voluntary pilot of facial recognition.
Technology ethicist Dr Karaitiana Taiuru says the ministry has not done enough to ensure fair treatment of all ethnicities.
“They know it’s racist, they know it’s biased, but the key message from the chairperson of their Maori Advisory Group is ‘we know it will be racist and biased to start with, but it will fix itself eventually,'” Dr Taiuru says.
Dr Taiuru says overseas, frequent facial recognition glitches have seen people of colour falsely arrested or accused of being someone they were not… and he says in this country Māori beneficiaries are being used as guinea pigs.