A survey from Pew Research found that a majority of Americans are opposed to the use of algorithms to make important decisions that affect people.
But there are areas where people are OK with algorithms:
- A 75% majority of social media users say they would be comfortable sharing their data with those sites if it were used to recommend events they might like to attend.
- But that share falls to just 37% if their data are being used to deliver messages from political campaigns.
- About two-thirds of social media users younger than 50 find it acceptable for social media platforms to use their personal data to recommend connecting with people they might want to know.
- But that view is shared by fewer than half of users ages 65 and older.
Public attitudes toward algorithmic decision-making can vary by factors related to race and ethnicity.:
- Just 25% of whites think the personal finance score concept would be fair to consumers
- but that share rises to 45% among blacks.
- 61% of blacks think the criminal risk score concept is not fair to people up for parole,
- but that share falls to 49% among whites.