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Human bias in algorithm design

Nature Human Behaviour volume 7, pages 1822–1824 (2023)Cite this article

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Algorithms are designed to learn user preferences by observing user behaviour. This causes algorithms to fail to reflect user preferences when psychological biases affect user decision making. For algorithms to enhance social welfare, algorithm design needs to be psychologically informed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Questrom School of Business, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Carey K. Morewedge

  2. Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Sendhil Mullainathan

  3. The World Bank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Haaya F. Naushan

  4. Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Cass R. Sunstein

  5. Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Jon Kleinberg

  6. MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Manish Raghavan

  7. Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jens O. Ludwig

Authors
  1. Carey K. Morewedge
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  2. Sendhil Mullainathan
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  3. Haaya F. Naushan
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  4. Cass R. Sunstein
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  5. Jon Kleinberg
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  6. Manish Raghavan
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  7. Jens O. Ludwig
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Correspondence to Carey K. Morewedge.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Morewedge, C.K., Mullainathan, S., Naushan, H.F. et al. Human bias in algorithm design. Nat Hum Behav 7, 1822–1824 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01724-4

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