mathwash

English

Etymology

From math +‎ -wash. Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 (see quotation below).

Verb

mathwash (third-person singular simple present mathwashes, present participle mathwashing, simple past and past participle mathwashed)

1. (intransitive, transitive, neologism) To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively.
   • 2016 May 9, @fredbenenson, Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 April 2024:

     The issue is definitional: "algorithm" has been used to mathwash functionality that would otherwise be considered arbitrary with objectivity

   • 2018 January 1, Mike Loukides, “The problem with building a "fair" system”, in O'Reilly Radar‎^[2], archived from the original on 2023-06-04:

     While our systems can be assistants or even collaborators, we do not want to hand off responsibility to them. When we treat machine learning systems as oracles, rather than as assistants, we are headed in the wrong direction. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that a decision is fair because it is algorithmic. We can't afford to "mathwash" important decisions.

   • 2018 January 29, Sophie Kleber, “As AI Meets the Reputation Economy, We're All Being Silently Judged”, in Harvard Business Review‎^[3], Brighton, M.A.: Harvard Business Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-28:

     Deliberate mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is tweaked in order to course correct or skew the bias. Facebook allegedly mathwashed when it routinely suppressed conservative news in 2016.

   • 2021 January 29, Nantina Vgontzas, Meredith Whittaker, “These Machines Won't Kill Fascism: Toward a Militant Progressive Vision for Tech”, in The Nation‎^[4], new York, N.Y.: The Nation Company, L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-03-29:

     Striking Instacart workers have also opposed the company's "black box" app, which sets workers' pay via an unintelligible model that "mathwashes" their exploitation.

Derived terms

• mathwashing (noun)