I’m sorry, but their methodology sucks, and they don’t actually understand what they’re doing.
To quote:
So my wife leads one of the largest data institutes in the country, and laughed long and hard at this.
First of all:
Every single ranking systems uses algorithms. An “algorithm” is just a set of rules that a person writes.
Algorithm for putting a giraffe into the refrigerator:
- Open refrigerator
- Grab giraffe
- Place giraffe in refrigerator.
There, I wrote an algorithm. Now magically, if I program this to a computer is will put a giraffe into my computer, right? After all, it’s an algorithm, and that the same as “magic spell”, but for computers, right?
Second:
A biased person will write algorithms which produce biased results. Just because a computer follows the biased instructions doesn’t magically erase the bias inherent in the algorithm
Third:
Databases are mostly biased, and even an unbiased algorithm will have biased results,if it is used on a biased database. More generally, GIGO.
So no, just because they’re using AI or “machine learning” doesn’t mean that they are magically free of bias.
I could think of a dozen ways offhand by which their results would be far more biased than anything done by USNews.
I’m getting REALLY tired of what I will now call Computational Gaslighting.
“It’s not biased because it was done by a COMPUTER, and computers aren’t inherently biased, right?! So it’s scientific truth, and we have to accept it!”