Unfavourable and unjustified treatment of individuals by an automated system, on the basis of protected characteristics, directly or through proxy variables.
Algorithmic discrimination arises when an automated system treats individuals unfavourably and unjustifiably on the basis of protected characteristics such as origin, sex or health status. It may be direct, where the characteristic is used as a criterion, or indirect, where an apparently neutral variable, a postcode for instance, serves as a proxy for a protected characteristic. Distinct from mere algorithmic bias, which is often its technical cause, discrimination is a matter of legal characterisation. In insurance, it runs up against the principles of actuarial fairness and non-discrimination already tested by case law. The stake is all the keener as the Product Liability Directive excludes infringements of fundamental rights from its strict-liability regime, leaving such disputes to national laws and the GDPR.
An algorithm that more often refuses cover to residents of certain neighbourhoods may constitute indirect algorithmic discrimination if the geographic criterion masks a protected characteristic.
discrimination automatisée, algorithmic discrimination