Algorithmic Bias
Definition
When an AI system produces unfair or skewed results because of patterns in the data it learned from. If a hiring tool was trained mostly on records of men being hired, it may quietly favour men. The system isn't prejudiced in any human sense. It's repeating patterns it was shown, including the unfair ones. That's the problem, and it's a real one.
Why It Matters
AI is increasingly used to make decisions that affect real people: loans, jobs, medical care. Knowing bias can hide inside these systems is the first step to questioning their results.
What does that look like in practice?
A photo tool keeps cropping out darker faces because the images it learned from didn't include enough of them. That's algorithmic bias.
What people actually mean when they say this
When someone says 'the AI is biased,' they usually mean it picked up unfair patterns from its data, not that it holds opinions of its own.
Last reviewed: June 2026
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