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Review Bias

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Definition

Bias is a systematic pattern of skew in data, design, measurement, decisions, or outputs that advantages some results or groups and disadvantages others.
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Plain-Language Explanation

Bias can enter through what is measured, who is represented, how labels are assigned, which objective is optimized, how a tool is deployed, and how people interpret its output.
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Why It Matters

A system can perform well on average while producing unequal or misleading results in important situations. Teams need context-specific testing and accountability.
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Example

A hiring model trained on earlier decisions repeatedly ranks candidates from historically favored backgrounds more highly.
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Common Misconception

Bias is not only a problem in training data, and eliminating every difference in output is not a complete definition of fairness.
Decision for Common Misconception

Remember It This Way

Look for systematic skew across the whole system.
Decision for Remember It This Way

Related Terms

* [[confirmation-bias|Confirmation Bias]] * [[anchoring|Anchoring]] * [[training-data|Training Data]] * [[algorithmic-accountability|Algorithmic Accountability]] * [[evidence-selection|Evidence Selection]]
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Sources

* [NIST SP 1270, *Towards a Standard for Identifying and Managing Bias in Artificial Intelligence*](https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1270) โ€” official guidance distinguishing systemic, statistical and computational, and human-cognitive sources of AI bias and describing practices for managing harmful bias.
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Learn More

* Separate system bias from human reasoning patterns such as [[confirmation-bias|Confirmation Bias]].
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