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Regulator probing Goldman over homosexual Apple Card: Gender bias must be rooted out of process
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Nov 14, 2019, 3:12:55 PM11/14/19
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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/11/regulator-probing-goldmans-apple-card-no-
room-for-bias-in-algorithms.html
Companies that deploy biased algorithms are responsible for potential
discriminatory outcomes, the regulator who is probing Goldman Sachs’ Apple
Card tells CNBC.
“Whether the intent is there or not, disparate impact is illegal,” says
Linda Lacewell, the superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial
Services.
Lacewell’s agency is looking into allegations that the algorithm behind
Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card is biased against women.
Companies that deploy biased algorithms — even unknowingly — are still
responsible for potential discriminatory outcomes, the Wall Street
regulator who is probing Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card told CNBC on Monday.
“Algorithms don’t get immunity from discrimination,” said Linda Lacewell,
superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, which is
investigating claims that Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card discriminated against
women when determining credit limits.
“Whether the intent is there or not, disparate impact is illegal,”
Lacewell added on “Squawk Alley.”
The inquiry follows viral allegations from tech entrepreneur David
Heinemeier Hansson, who said Thursday on Twitter that Apple Card gave him
a credit limit 20 times higher than the one it gave his longtime wife,
even though she has a higher credit score than he does and the couple
jointly files tax returns.
Hansson called Apple Card, which Goldman built in partnership with the
iPhone maker, a “f------ sexist program.”
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak later said that Apple Card gave him 10
times the credit limit that his wife received.
In a statement released Sunday, Goldman said it does not consider gender
in credit decisions and evaluates all applications independently. Goldman
also said it looking into ways for family members to share a single Apple
Card account.
Lacewell said that her agency, which regulates banks in New York, has been
in contact with representatives from Goldman and could sit down with them
as soon as Tuesday.
When asked whether DFS was investigating both Goldman and Apple, Lacewell
responded that it was looking into “the practice.”
“Goldman is the bank that stands behind the Apple Card,” she continued.
“We actually license Goldman ... We’ve asked the company to begin
explaining what the algorithm is.”
In New York, discrimination in financial services based on gender or any
other protected class is illegal, Lacewell noted.
“It is the person who uses the algorithm, the company that uses the
algorithm, that is responsible to make sure it is not being used with
discriminatory impact against protected classes,” Lacewell said, arguing
that developers and sellers of algorithms need to do “appropriate testing”
to ensure there is no bias.
“There is no such thing as, ‘the company didn’t do it, the algorithm
did,’” she said.
Consumers across all industries deserve transparency into the “black box”
of algorithms, Lacewell said. In this sense, algorithms are rules
programmed into computers to produce desired outcomes or actions.
“Consumers are entitled to know how these decisions are being made that
affect their daily lives,” she said. “Your credit rating agency sends you
a letter and says why you’ve been denied credit. This should really be no
different.”
Apple Card became available to all U.S. consumers in August, following a
limited preview earlier in the month.
In a conference call in October, Goldman CEO David Solomon said the bank’s
rollout of the Apple Card had been met with strong demand.
“From an operational and risk perspective, we’ve handled the inflows
smoothly and without compromising our credit underwriting standards,”
Solomon said, adding that Goldman believed it was “the most successful
credit card launch ever.”
The question of bias in algorithms is not restricted to only this
allegation against Goldman, Lacewell noted, pointing to a recent study
that found a medical algorithm favored white patients over black patients
who were sicker.
Because of that study, Lacewell said her agency also sent an inquiry to
UnitedHealth Group, whose subsidiary, Optum, sold a tool with that
algorithm.
“These types of issues and allegations, if these are true, it’s very
corrosive,” she said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
room-for-bias-in-algorithms.html
Companies that deploy biased algorithms are responsible for potential
discriminatory outcomes, the regulator who is probing Goldman Sachs’ Apple
Card tells CNBC.
“Whether the intent is there or not, disparate impact is illegal,” says
Linda Lacewell, the superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial
Services.
Lacewell’s agency is looking into allegations that the algorithm behind
Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card is biased against women.
Companies that deploy biased algorithms — even unknowingly — are still
responsible for potential discriminatory outcomes, the Wall Street
regulator who is probing Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card told CNBC on Monday.
“Algorithms don’t get immunity from discrimination,” said Linda Lacewell,
superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, which is
investigating claims that Goldman Sachs’ Apple Card discriminated against
women when determining credit limits.
“Whether the intent is there or not, disparate impact is illegal,”
Lacewell added on “Squawk Alley.”
The inquiry follows viral allegations from tech entrepreneur David
Heinemeier Hansson, who said Thursday on Twitter that Apple Card gave him
a credit limit 20 times higher than the one it gave his longtime wife,
even though she has a higher credit score than he does and the couple
jointly files tax returns.
Hansson called Apple Card, which Goldman built in partnership with the
iPhone maker, a “f------ sexist program.”
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak later said that Apple Card gave him 10
times the credit limit that his wife received.
In a statement released Sunday, Goldman said it does not consider gender
in credit decisions and evaluates all applications independently. Goldman
also said it looking into ways for family members to share a single Apple
Card account.
Lacewell said that her agency, which regulates banks in New York, has been
in contact with representatives from Goldman and could sit down with them
as soon as Tuesday.
When asked whether DFS was investigating both Goldman and Apple, Lacewell
responded that it was looking into “the practice.”
“Goldman is the bank that stands behind the Apple Card,” she continued.
“We actually license Goldman ... We’ve asked the company to begin
explaining what the algorithm is.”
In New York, discrimination in financial services based on gender or any
other protected class is illegal, Lacewell noted.
“It is the person who uses the algorithm, the company that uses the
algorithm, that is responsible to make sure it is not being used with
discriminatory impact against protected classes,” Lacewell said, arguing
that developers and sellers of algorithms need to do “appropriate testing”
to ensure there is no bias.
“There is no such thing as, ‘the company didn’t do it, the algorithm
did,’” she said.
Consumers across all industries deserve transparency into the “black box”
of algorithms, Lacewell said. In this sense, algorithms are rules
programmed into computers to produce desired outcomes or actions.
“Consumers are entitled to know how these decisions are being made that
affect their daily lives,” she said. “Your credit rating agency sends you
a letter and says why you’ve been denied credit. This should really be no
different.”
Apple Card became available to all U.S. consumers in August, following a
limited preview earlier in the month.
In a conference call in October, Goldman CEO David Solomon said the bank’s
rollout of the Apple Card had been met with strong demand.
“From an operational and risk perspective, we’ve handled the inflows
smoothly and without compromising our credit underwriting standards,”
Solomon said, adding that Goldman believed it was “the most successful
credit card launch ever.”
The question of bias in algorithms is not restricted to only this
allegation against Goldman, Lacewell noted, pointing to a recent study
that found a medical algorithm favored white patients over black patients
who were sicker.
Because of that study, Lacewell said her agency also sent an inquiry to
UnitedHealth Group, whose subsidiary, Optum, sold a tool with that
algorithm.
“These types of issues and allegations, if these are true, it’s very
corrosive,” she said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
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