AI and Worker’s Lives

In chapter 7 of Weapons of Math Destruction, written by Cathy O’Neil, she started the chapter by talking about companies using data analytics to their employees. She said the companies uses software to create work schedule that only benefited the company the most: “Under the inefficient status quo, workers had not only predictable hours but also a certain amount of downtime.”. The work schedule is designed not to optimize the working time for employees, but to minimize compensation for maximum sales. She later on brought up an example of an unclear use of WMD on a middle school English teach in New York City, Tim Clifford. Tim had twenty-six years of teaching experience, but since his school used a “value-added model” to evaluate teachers, he almost got fire as he scored 6 out of 100 without knowing the reason. He then scored a 96 in the following year, almost not changing anything that he did, that shows how unclear the WMD could be in evaluations. The value-added model should have enclosed their scoring requirements to prevent such from happening. Noticing what was the flaw on the value-added modeling, New York governor Andrew Cuomo makes effort and try to cancel it: “In bowing to the parents, the Cuomo administration delivered a blow to value-added modeling. After all, without a full complement of student tests, the state would lack the data to populate it.”.

The WMD in this chapter all started with good intention, while all ended being banned or restricted. The data analytics is supposed to make worker work more efficiently, while not using part-time staff’s unnecessary time. The value-added model is supposed to evaluate teachers in a more all-around way to avoid unfairness. I appreciate the original intention of the WMDs, but more improvements have to be made if we are to use it to maximize benefits to all parties, not just the companies.