Cathy O'Neil, an independent data scientist, says she basically invented the notion of an algorithmic audit, a review of processes to inspect outcomes and inner workings. She's the founder of O'Neil Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Auditing, a company that is working with the Colorado Division of Insurance and other organizations across the U.S. on how to understand and mitigate
O'Neil wrote a book released in 2016 on the impact of algorithms, 'Weapons of Math Destruction: How Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy.' During her research she found that regulators didn't really know what discrimination meant when it came to an algorithm, that's why she decided to start a company focused on this.
Digital Insurance spoke to O'Neil about AI and model bias. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.