Pokemon Go's augmented reality game created unequal distribution of PokeStops and Gyms, with significantly fewer locations in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods compared to white areas, resulting in discriminatory access to game features.
Pokemon Go, developed by Niantic Labs and launched in July 2016, became a viral augmented reality mobile game requiring players to visit real-world locations called PokeStops and Gyms to collect items and battle. Aura Bogado, an environmental reporter, discovered that PokeStops appeared far more frequently in majority white neighborhoods than in predominantly minority areas. She created the hashtag #mypokehood to crowdsource location data, which was supported by Urban Institute research finding an average of 55 PokeStops in majority white neighborhoods versus only 19 in majority Black neighborhoods. Similar patterns were found in Detroit, Miami, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Queens. The disparity occurred because Niantic reused location data from their previous game Ingress, whose players were predominantly white, young, male, and English-speaking according to 2013-2014 surveys. This resulted in fewer PokeStops in non-white residential areas, making it harder for minority communities to participate in the game without paying for items that white players could obtain for free. The Urban Institute characterized this as 'redlining' - cutting off communities from services based on racial makeup.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Unequal treatment of individuals or groups by AI, often based on race, gender, or other sensitive characteristics, resulting in unfair outcomes and unfair representation of those groups.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed