HOW WE TACKLED MODERN-DAY BIAS WITH AI

/ Ekow Duker – Co-founder, The AI Shop /

In an age where technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives, The AI Shop and Africa No Filter have introduced a powerful new tool designed to combat bias in writing - The Africa Bias Buster. This AI-powered solution is not just another technological innovation; it’s a direct response to the persistent stereotypes that have long distorted the portrayal of Africa in the media and beyond. The Bias Buster helps writers identify and eliminate unconscious bias in their work, creating opportunities for more balanced, accurate storytelling about Africa.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, much has been written about the risks of algorithmic bias—ranging from denying people job opportunities to wrongfully convicting the innocent. However, there’s another type of bias that’s been around much longer, and it’s one Africans know all too well.

In the 18th century, supporters of the transatlantic slave trade justified their position by characterizing Africans as inferior beings. Edward Long, one of the era’s most vocal advocates, described Africans as “proud, lazy, deceitful, thievish, addicted to all kinds of lust”. Despite never setting foot in Africa, he marvelled that, even after long periods of colonization, Africans demonstrated no “appreciation for the arts or any inventive ability”.

This type of bias has persisted across generations. Even two centuries later, Che Guevara echoed Long’s sentiment, describing the African as “indolent and lazy”, and who “spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent.”

Thankfully, such virulent stereotypes are not as overt as they once were. But while political correctness may have turned down the vitriol, such stereotypes haven’t really gone away. We still encounter well-meaning writing that, in subtle ways, implies Africans lack agency and are dependent on Western saviours.

Let’s look at an example: In a blog post subtitled ‘Humanitarian heroes take up the call to improve the welfare of others’, a well-known development agency writing about its work in South Africa, depicts humanitarian organisations and people who donate to charities as ‘heroes’. While the text seems harmless at first glance, a closer look reveals that it downplays the role of local heroes and minimizes the agency of African communities in driving their own progress.

It’s exactly this sort of bias that Africa No Filter, a donor collaborative committed to changing outdated perceptions of Africa, seeks to weed out. Their mission is to promote stories that go beyond stereotypes and offer a more nuanced and accurate portrayal of the continent. As part of this mission, Africa No Filter envisioned a toolpowered by AI - that would help storytellers create more balanced narratives about Africa. Abimbola Ogundairo, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead at Africa No Filter imagined it like this: “An AI-powered learning tool that analyses your writing to identify stereotypes and provide actionable feedback to help you tell more impactful stories, all in real-time!”. They called this tool The Africa Bias Buster and asked The AI Shop to build it with them.

“At The AI Shop, our job is to make enterprise workflows run better,” said the coFounders of The AI Shop, Ekow Duker and Simon Stewart. “We saw this as a critical project because bias, especially when aimed at entire populations, can have insidious, long-term effects. It was an honour to co-create this tool with Africa No Filter and demonstrate how AI can be a force for good.”

You can try out the Africa Bias Buster yourself at https://africanofilter.org/home Just type in or upload a piece of writing and sit back while the bias baster analyses the text, assigns a score out of 5, and gives you suggestions on how to get rid of any subtle or overt biases that may be present in the writing.

This novel collaboration between Africa No Filter and The AI Shop successfully developed and refined an AI-powered tool designed to identify and address biases in narratives about Africa. By leveraging advanced language models and incorporating user feedback, we created a robust solution that empowers writers, journalists, and other stakeholders to produce more balanced and truthful portrayals of the continent. This initiative not only supports Africa No Filter’s mission to promote better storytelling about Africa but also demonstrates how cutting-edge technology can be used to address a centuries-old problem. Edward Long would not be pleased.