What AI can teach us about human bias in decision making

The debate between meritocracy and affirmative action has long simmered, and the arguments on both sides are familiar. But quickly to recap, let’s look at an exchange between two people, each on either side of the argument.

Vivek Ramaswamy is a self-made multimillionaire who founded a biotech company at the age of 28. He is a celebrity in conservative circles, having been a regular guest on Fox News and last year published Woke, Inc: Inside the Social Justice Scam, which takes corporations to task for — as he sees it — overstepping the mark in becoming involved in moral issues best left to society.

Recently, he recalled a debate with Kenneth Frazier, the former chief executive of the pharmaceuticals company Merck. Frazier had said in the wake of the police killing of African-American George Floyd: “There are, in fact, barriers that are faced by African Americans … We still have customs. We still have beliefs. We still have policies. We have practices that lead to…