Allocative Harms
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.
"These harms occur when a system withholds information, opportunities, or resources [22] from historically marginalized groups in domains that affect material well-being [146], such as housing [47], employment [201], social services [15, 201], finance [117], education [119], and healthcare [158]."(p. 729)
Sub-categories (2)
Opportunity loss
Opportunity loss occurs when algorithmic systems enable disparate access to information and resources needed to equitably participate in society, including the withholding of housing through targeting ads based on race [10] and social services along lines of class [84]
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationEconomic loss
Financial harms [52, 160] co-produced through algorithmic systems, especially as they relate to lived experiences of poverty and economic inequality... demonetization algorithms that parse content titles, metadata, and text, and it may penalize words with multiple meanings [51, 81], disproportionately impacting queer, trans, and creators of color [81]. Differential pricing algorithms, where people are systematically shown different prices for the same products, also leads to economic loss [55]. These algorithms may be especially sensitive to feedback loops from existing inequities related to education level, income, and race, as these inequalities are likely reflected in the criteria algorithms use to make decisions [22, 163].
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationOther risks from Shelby et al. (2023) (24)
Representational Harms
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRepresentational Harms > Stereotyping social groups
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRepresentational Harms > Demeaning social groups
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRepresentational Harms > Erasing social groups
1.3 Unequal performance across groupsRepresentational Harms > Alienating social groups
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRepresentational Harms > Denying people the opportunity to self-identify
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation