Addressed to companies, public organisms and citizens, this guide to audit algorithms offers a general and replicable methodology. 

Big data, especially the one based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that use personal information, has an enormous effect on our daily lives. On a personal scale but also on a social, economic and legal level. And the ignorance of a large part of the society (and the opacity of many of these systems) makes that the systems do not always follow ethical criteria. In these cases, the aforementioned systems may not apply ethical technology, something that translates into biases, bad practices or discrimination. Especially, when we talk about vulnerable people. In some cases, because some AI systems regulated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also discriminate. That is why it is so important to evaluate the impact of a correct protection of personal data through some kind of external control.

Specialized in algorithmic auditing and algorithmic equity and justice and a proven track record of real experience in audits, Eticas Consulting introduces the Guide to Algorithmic Auditing to make the current technology more explainable, transparent and controllable. For this, the Guide offers a general and replicable methodology as an “instruction manual” so that citizens, public institutions and companies have more control over the algorithms that are already deciding on their lives. To read the 5 key steps of an audit you can read our last post.

The Guide to Algorithmic Auditing has three main objectives:

  1. Protect the fundamental rights linked to privacy and protect personal data;
  2. Provide clarity to the laws that apply to algorithmic systems;
  3. Offer a methodology to control that these technologies are designed, developed and used not only in accordance with the Law, but also in a socially fair and responsible way.

 

The content of the Guide to Algorithmic Auditing

The Guide to Algorithmic Auditing is aimed at the people responsible for the use of algorithms, data processing algorithm audits. Although, this guide is a tool that also seeks to reach the general public, increasingly interested in the effects of the application of algorithms in their daily lives. Therefore, it gathers both the definitions of the basic terms and the previous considerations necessary for their understanding, but also a more specialized content focused on the guiding principles of algorithmic auditing, the phases and recommendations for improving the systems after performing the audit.

If you want to download the Guide to Algorithmic Auditing, you can do it here.