Criminal Risk Assessments: Secret Algorithms, Flawed Results and a Black-Box Future

Criminal Risk Algorithm

Increasingly, criminal sentencing decisions are guided in part by sophisticated computer algorithms that aim to predict, among other things, a convict’s likelihood to re-offend. While the likelihood of recidivism is clearly central to sentencing, some are sounding alarms over the opacity of the so-called “risk assessments,” which are often derived from formulas that are proprietary…

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Artificial Intelligence for Attorneys: No, Not a New Robot Overlord

Legal Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is inspiring great optimism for its potential to improve the lives and jobs of its users. But it also inspires great concern for its potential to disrupt industries and automate people out of their jobs. The legal industry is no exception. Tasks once thought to require human intelligence are increasingly being performed,…

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Google’s RankBrain and the Future of Smart Search

In October, Bloomberg News reported on a new facet of Google’s search technology called RankBrain. RankBrain has been termed a form of artificial intelligence or machine learning with the potential to shake up the entire search engine and SEO industries. Google is being somewhat circumspect in how much it reveals about RankBrain. After all, the…

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