Racial bias in OpenAI GPT resume rankings

AI is finding its way into the HR workflow to sift through resumes. This seems like a decent idea on the surface, until you realize that the models that the AI is built on lean more towards certain demographics. For Bloomberg, Leon Yin, Davey Alba, and Leonardo Nicoletti experimented with the OpenAI GPT showing a bias:

When asked to rank those resumes 1,000 times, GPT 3.5 — the most broadly-used version of the model — favored names from some demographics more often than others, to an extent that would fail benchmarks used to assess job discrimination against protected groups. While this test is a simplified version of a typical HR workflow, it isolated names as a source of bias in GPT that could affect hiring decisions. The interviews and experiment show that using generative AI for recruiting and hiring poses a serious risk for automated discrimination at scale.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Tags: , , , ,

Where to see the total eclipse

There’s a total eclipse (a real one, not of the heart) happening on April 8, 2024. The next one isn’t until 2045, so if you don’t want to wait two decades, now’s your chance. For Bloomberg, Denise Lu shows where, when, and how the eclipse will go down across the United States. She covered pretty much every angle, so there’s no need for anyone else to make an eclipse map.

Tags: ,

Snow drought

A warming climate has meant less snow in the northern hemisphere, which is a problem when agriculture depends on melting snow to grow crops. Bloomberg reports on the current snow drought situation.

Tags: , , ,

Repairing Panama Canal water levels

For Bloomberg, Peter Millard and Michael D. McDonald report on the efforts to maintain water levels in the Panama Canal.
Falling levels limit the number of ships that can pass through the waterway and that’s a problem when a quarter trillion dollars worth of trade pass through every year.

Tags: , ,

High concentration of intrastate pipelines in Texas

By keeping gas pipelines within the state, companies can avoid federal regulations. This is perhaps good for profits, but it is less of a positive for consumers when the energy companies can increase rates more freely. For Bloomberg, Rachel Adams-Heard, Naureen Malik, and Jeremy C.F. Lin have the maps and charts to show what this means in Texas, which has the most intrastate pipeline in the country.

Tags: , ,

Inflation high, cost of living no good

Usually inflation is more of a slow thing that you don’t notice so much until you think back to the time when a burger was only a dollar. Prices increased much faster over the past few years though. For Bloomberg, Reade Pickert and Jennah Haque zoom in on the everyday items that are noticeably more expensive. Basically everything.

I just wrapped up travel in a high cost of living area. The sticker shock on a simple grocery bill was brutal.

Tags: , ,

Failed community notes to stop misinformation on Twitter

Twitter has a Community Notes feature that attempts to flag posts that contain misinformation. This might work well in theory, and the notes are often informative, but it works slowly and is often not enough to stop the spread of misinformation in a viral tweet. Bloomberg shows the spread through the lens of a single tweet.

Tags: , ,

Premiums on electricity during Covid lockdowns in Italy

During Covid lockdowns, power companies in Italy charged premiums to cover increased prices for electricity, but it appears that isn’t the full story. For Bloomberg, Vernon Silver, Eric Fan, and Sam Dodge analyzed costs and premiums over time:

Even so, it’s clear – from executives’ celebratory comments during earnings calls as well as simple mathematics – that the dispatch market’s higher prices helped companies do far better than merely avoiding losses. In 2020 alone, dispatch premiums totaled €1.2 billion – or 238% more than companies would have received at the day-ahead price.

It looks like the power costs might partially be an excuse to charge more premiums. Maybe. Either way, I’m into the glowing aesthetic on the calendar heatmaps.

Tags: , , ,

Taylor Swift earnings visualized with bracelet beads

Bloomberg estimates that Taylor Swift reached billionaire status with her recent touring and music releases. Swift achieved the milestone mostly with music. Bloomberg provides the visual splits with bracelet beads.

Tags: , , ,

Dip in solar generation during the solar eclipse

Solar power is clean and all, but what happens when the sun is blocked by the moon and there’s suddenly no sunlight for a fixed period of time? For Bloomberg, Naureen Malik, with graphics by Denise Lu, describes the preparations that power companies will take during this weekend’s solar eclipse.

Tags: , ,