Algorithm Misestimating Economic Vulnerability Leads to Social Tension: A Cautionary Tale on AI Governance

May 31, 2019

The algorithm used in the Takaful cash transfer program allegedly oversimplified economic situations, leading to social tension and perceptions of unfairness. This AI incident highlights the importance of AI governance and guardrails for ensuring safe and secure AI in social welfare applications. This AI incident maps to the Govern function in HISPI Project Cerebellum Trusted AI Model (TAIM). Ready to help shape responsible AI? JOIN US
Alleged deployer
national-aid-fund
Alleged developer
the-world-bank, unicef, world-food-programme
Alleged harmed parties
jordanians-in-poverty

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/546

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.