Deciding with Data: How Society Can Use Algorithms to Make Better Choices

Using software to solve complex problems by analyzing data—known as algorithmic decision-making—offers incredible potential for the public and private sectors to operate more effectively, efficiently, and equitably. For example, the technology has helped streamline wait lists for life-saving organ transplants, improve policing by predicting crime hotspots, and better target charitable giving to the poorest households in rural Kenya.

Despite these benefits, skeptics argue algorithmic decision-making will be inherently exploitative, discriminatory, or simply unreliable, and thus in need of greater government oversight. But countless real-world examples of algorithms unlocking tremendous social and economic benefits indicate otherwise: algorithms can be more effective and less biased than humans when it comes to making important decisions.

Join the Center for Data Innovation for a panel discussion about how public and private sector leaders are using algorithms to make better decisions and what an increasingly data-driven world means for the future of algorithmic decision-making.