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Weapons Of Math Destruction' Outlines Dangers Of Relying On Data Analytics

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with data scientist Cathy O'Neil about her new book,Weapons of Math Destruction, which describes the dangers of relying on big data analytics to solve problems.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

We are in a time of big data. In recent years, NPR's done stories about how data analytics are being used to help political campaigns, rally supporters, compare the cost of similar surgeries in different cities, track public buses in real time and even maybe identify police officers at risk of committing misconduct. But the question is are we putting too much faith in big data? That's the question we're asking in this week's All Tech Considered.

MCEVERS: In her new book, mathematician Cathy O'Neil says we are in a techno utopia. And she does not mean that in a good way. Her book is called "Weapons Of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality And Threatens Democracy." And she is with us now. Welcome to the show.

CATHY O'NEIL: Honored to be here, Kelly.

MCEVERS: So tell us what you mean by techno utopia.

O'NEIL: Well, techno utopia is this idea that the machine-learning tools, the algorithms, the things that help Google, like, have cars that drive themselves, that these tools are somehow making things objective and fair when, in fact, we really have no idea what's happening to most algorithms under the hood.

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