Algorithms, Smart Cities, and How to Make Them Work For Everyone

In this episode of the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute Podcast, Karen Lightman interviews Dr. Alexandra Chouldechova, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Chouldechova is the Estella Loomis McCandless Assistant Professor of Statistics and Public Policy, and her work focuses on algorithmic fairness in areas such as child welfare, criminal justice, healthcare, and financial services. During this friendly, half-hour conversation, Dr. Chouldechova touches on a range of topics from using algorithms to help make child welfare decisions, to predictive policing. She posed a range of questions like “who determines what is fair?” and “How can we make algorithms and technology work for as many people as possible?” Dr. Chouldechova recognizes that algorithms are not created in a vacuum and describes how she believes problems of algorithmic discrimination can be alleviated.