✊Boss Betty ✊ Midweek Briefing: In which we discuss how the Apple Card might have bit it on the bias front & more

The news that the Apple Card might be biased — women are purportedly being issued substantially lower spending limits than men with the same credit profiles —had us all kinds of shook. No Matt Damon we do NOT like those apples.

We don’t yet know whether the algorithms determining the Apple Card’s credit lines discriminated against women (that’s being investigated) but it’s a reminder of how opaque machine-learning systems are and it is really, truly frightening. The danger of bias being baked into A.I. systems is a very real, very 21st century threat. Let’s course correct ASAP lest we fall into the trap of repeating terrible episodes of history ad infinitum.

OTHER STUFF:  

• 8 tech companies are among the top 10 most “just companies” in the U.S. based on criteria ranging from fair pay and ethical leadership to customer privacy and environmental impact, according to a report. Given what we write in this space every day, that’s…interesting. Perhaps that says more about the relative level of just-ness being considered than it does about the companies who made the cut?
• The Financial Times (you know, the pink one) named Roula Khalaf as its new editor-in-chief, the first woman to lead the paper since its founding in 1888.
• Female-founded companies take “substantially” less time to exit and the number of exits for startups founded by women is growing at a faster rate than those founded by just men.
• WeWork is selling its stake in the female co-working company The Wing as it seeks to rights its seemingly sinking financial ship. As part of WeWork’s divestiture, its Chief Legal Officer and President Jennifer Berrent, who was named as a defendant in a pregnancy discrimination claim filed against WeWork, is expected to leave The Wing’s board.

Read Boss Betty’s industry briefs. Want to get this delightful content delivered directly to your inbox? Get the Boss Betty newsletter!