Perception of fairness in algorithmic decisions: Future developers' perspective

Fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE) in algorithmic systems is gaining a lot of attention lately. With the continuous advancement of machine learning and artificial intelligence, research and tech companies are coming across incidents where algorithmic systems are making non-objective decisions that may reproduce and/or amplify social stereotypes and inequalities. There is a great effort by the research community on developing frameworks of fairness and algorithmic models to alleviate biases; however, we first need to understand how people perceive the complex construct of algorithmic fairness. In this work, we investigate how young and future developers perceive these concepts. Our results can inform future research on (1) understanding perceptions of algorithmic FATE, (2) highlighting the needs for systematic training and education on FATE, and (3) raising awareness among young developers on the potential impact that the systems they are developing have in society