Laypeople's Attitudes Towards Fair, Affirmative, and Discriminatory Decision-Making Algorithms

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Lima, Gabriel, Grgić-Hlača, Nina, Langer, Markus, Zou, Yixin
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Lima, Gabriel
Grgić-Hlača, Nina
Langer, Markus
Zou, Yixin
author_facet Lima, Gabriel
Grgić-Hlača, Nina
Langer, Markus
Zou, Yixin
contents Affirmative algorithms have emerged as a potential answer to algorithmic discrimination, seeking to redress past harms and rectify the source of historical injustices. We present the results of two experiments ($N$$=$$1193$) capturing laypeople's perceptions of affirmative algorithms -- those which explicitly prioritize the historically marginalized -- in hiring and criminal justice. We contrast these opinions about affirmative algorithms with folk attitudes towards algorithms that prioritize the privileged (i.e., discriminatory) and systems that make decisions independently of demographic groups (i.e., fair). We find that people -- regardless of their political leaning and identity -- view fair algorithms favorably and denounce discriminatory systems. In contrast, we identify disagreements concerning affirmative algorithms: liberals and racial minorities rate affirmative systems as positively as their fair counterparts, whereas conservatives and those from the dominant racial group evaluate affirmative algorithms as negatively as discriminatory systems. We identify a source of these divisions: people have varying beliefs about who (if anyone) is marginalized, shaping their views of affirmative algorithms. We discuss the possibility of bridging these disagreements to bring people together towards affirmative algorithms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_07339
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Laypeople's Attitudes Towards Fair, Affirmative, and Discriminatory Decision-Making Algorithms
Lima, Gabriel
Grgić-Hlača, Nina
Langer, Markus
Zou, Yixin
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
Affirmative algorithms have emerged as a potential answer to algorithmic discrimination, seeking to redress past harms and rectify the source of historical injustices. We present the results of two experiments ($N$$=$$1193$) capturing laypeople's perceptions of affirmative algorithms -- those which explicitly prioritize the historically marginalized -- in hiring and criminal justice. We contrast these opinions about affirmative algorithms with folk attitudes towards algorithms that prioritize the privileged (i.e., discriminatory) and systems that make decisions independently of demographic groups (i.e., fair). We find that people -- regardless of their political leaning and identity -- view fair algorithms favorably and denounce discriminatory systems. In contrast, we identify disagreements concerning affirmative algorithms: liberals and racial minorities rate affirmative systems as positively as their fair counterparts, whereas conservatives and those from the dominant racial group evaluate affirmative algorithms as negatively as discriminatory systems. We identify a source of these divisions: people have varying beliefs about who (if anyone) is marginalized, shaping their views of affirmative algorithms. We discuss the possibility of bridging these disagreements to bring people together towards affirmative algorithms.
title Laypeople's Attitudes Towards Fair, Affirmative, and Discriminatory Decision-Making Algorithms
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07339