September 22 :: When AI Is Unfair

WOVEN
AI & Digital Literacy
Session 3 of 4  ·  When AI Is Unfair
UHAA  ·  United Harbor Area Association  ·  Work in pairs, one laptop per pair
⚓ Career Spotlight
Algorithmic Auditor

More and more decisions get made by AI: who gets a loan, a job interview, a spot in a program. Sometimes those systems are unfair without anyone meaning them to be. Algorithmic auditors are the people who test AI for hidden bias and make it fairer. It is a real and fast-growing job, and it starts with the skill you use today: looking past what a system says to find who it leaves out.

🎬 Watch first  ·  How AI gets biased

Watch how a system can look neutral but quietly track things like a neighborhood or a zip code. You are about to find one of those hidden signals yourself.

🎯 Today's Mission

Find the hidden unfairness inside an AI, then fix it.

By the end you can
  • Explain how an AI can be unfair without meaning to
  • Spot a proxy, a stand-in that quietly tracks income or race
  • Suggest a fairer way to build the system
★
⚖️ Main Challenge
The audit
The scenario

An AI decides who gets into a free summer tech program. It learned from data about students who did well before. Here is what it uses to decide:

  • Past grades
  • Attendance
  • Home zip code
  • Whether they have a computer at home
  1. With your partner, find the factors that are secretly unfair. Which ones are less about the student and more about where they live or how much money their family has?
  2. Name who gets shortchanged. Who could be a great fit but gets screened out?
  3. Those unfair factors are proxies, stand-ins that quietly track income or neighborhood. Say out loud what each one is really tracking.
  4. Fix it. Pick one fairer signal the program could use instead, something that measures the student, not their money.
⭐ Level Up, optional
  • Real auditors use the four-fifths rule: if one group is picked less than 80 percent as often as the top group, that is a red flag worth investigating.
  • Name another everyday app or feed and guess its hidden proxy.
→
🚀 Get Ready to Build
for next session

Next session you build a real app with AI and put it on the internet. Pick your idea now so you walk in ready to build. It should help someone in your community.

Fill in the blanks with your partner

Build a single-page web app that [does WHAT]. The user types in [INPUT]. It shows back [OUTPUT].

Need an idea? Pick one or make your own
  • Scam Spotter. Paste a suspicious text, it flags the warning signs.
  • Harbor Job Finder. Pick your interests, it suggests local tech jobs and where to train.
  • Air Quality Helper. Enter today's air number, it says if it is safe to exercise outside.
  • Bilingual Explainer. Type something in English, it explains it simply in Spanish.
  • Study Buddy. Paste your notes, it makes a practice quiz.

See the bar: our director built a San Pedro fishing conditions app with AI and put it online. Take a look, then aim for something that helps your own community. reliable-churros-b7af7d.netlify.app

🗣️ Quick Share
  • The proxy you found, and the fairer signal you would use instead.
  • The app you are going to build next session.
🏁 Wrap Up

Fair AI does not happen by accident. It takes people who ask who gets left out and then fix it. Today that was you. Come back next session ready to build your app.

🧭 Career Connections
Making AI fair is a real, growing job. Here is how to get one.
🔎 Find it
  • Your UHAA mentors are your first stop. They can connect you to local tech and career programs.
  • LA Harbor College in Wilmington has tech and data pathways, close to home.
📝 Apply
  • Put this on your resume: audited an AI system for bias.
  • Entry level means they train you. Apply anyway.
🎤 Interview
  • Tell how you found a hidden proxy and made a system fairer.
  • Lead with fairness and clear thinking.
⭐ Your first stop: UHAA

UHAA is here to help you take the next step toward these careers, from building a resume to making real local connections. Ask your mentors, that is what they are here for.

Built by Woven Learning & Technology
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