Twitter drops automated image-cropping tool after determining it was biased

This week, Twitter admitted that an algorithm responsible for the platform’s automatic photo cropping feature was biased. Twitter has since removed the feature from its platform. The social media company released a blog post on Wednesday, stating that it had analyzed the artificial intelligence algorithm that crops images before they appear in a user’s timeline after complaints that the system emphasized white people over black ones and favored men over women. Twitter conceded that the platform did display unequal treatment based on demographic differences.

Twitter found that women were favored more highly than men by 8% and that the algorithm favored photos of white people over black people by 4%. After the initial investigation, Twitter dug deeper and found that white women were more highly favored by 7% when compared with black women. White men were favored over black men at a 2% rate, the data showed. The social media firm also sought to check whether the AI showed signs of objectification bias. Twitter found no evidence of this.