Twitter study confirms gaps in AI cropping
Twitter image-cropping algorithm has a bias and tends to exclude Black people and men, the company said in a report. “How to crop an image is a decision best made by people”, the company said.
The study was made after criticism saying the software excludes Black faces. The Twitter study seems to confirm earlier studies showing that software is less precise when it comes to people of colour.
The study found that 8% difference from demographic parity in favour of women, and a 4% favour toward white individuals. The paper cited several possible reasons but said none were an excuse.
“Machine learning based cropping is fundamentally flawed because it removes user agency and restricts user’s expression of their own identity and values, instead imposing a normative gaze about which part of the image is considered the most interesting,” the researchers wrote in their report published on Twitter’s website.
Results of the study:
- In comparisons of men and women, there was an 8% difference from demographic parity in favour of women.
- In comparisons of black and white individuals, there was a 4% difference from demographic parity in favour of white individuals.
- In comparisons of black and white women, there was a 7% difference from demographic parity in favour of white women.
- In comparisons of black and white men, there was a 2% difference from demographic parity in favour of white men.
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