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the use of historical data to train the AI gives 'a leg-up to people from groups who have traditionally been successful and grants fewer opportunities to minorities and women'.

If you were surprised by the result of the Brexit vote in the UK or by the Trump victory in the US, you might live in an echo chamber - a self-reinforcing world of people who share the same opinions as you. Echo chambers are a problem, and not just because it means some people make incorrect predictions about political events. They threaten our democratic conversation, splitting up the common ground of assumption and fact that is needed for diverse people to talk to each other. A few tools are mentioned in the post that help you see "the other side" of a story - you might like to play with them, e.g. http://politecho.org "is a browser extension that shows the political biases of your friends and Facebook newsfeed"

Going beyond a surface level analysis of the statistics to delve deeper into the story A similar contrast can be seen in the census data on the religiosity of Australians. The census asks participants to state their religion. The answers reveal that while on the one hand Australians are becoming less religious, on the other they are becoming more religiously diverse. In the 2011 census, 68.3% of people identified themselves as having a religion. This was down from 69.5% in 2006. However, the census does not tell the whole story. It cannot tell us how often a person attends a church, mosque, synagogue or temple. It cannot tell us how often a person prays or performs some other religious ritual.

Interesting discussion of evidence on what does, and does not, work in tackling gender bias in recruitment and management processes. Evidence shows that skills-based assessment tasks (where candidates are given tests that replicate the work they'll actually do on the job) and structured interviews (where all candidates are given the same questions in the same order) have a positive impact on diverse recruitment. Unstructured interviews are more likely to allow unfair bias to creep in. Making promotion and pay processes more transparent can reduce pay inequality: when decisions are reviewed by others, managers realise they need to be objective and evidence-based. Evidence also shows women ask for less money than men. To encourage them to negotiate more, employers should make the possible salary range for roles clear. Studies indicate that women are put off negotiating when they're not sure what a reasonable offer is. "A lot of employers are genuinely really keen to reduce the gender pay gap, and also want to show they're making a change. But they're starved for information about what is likely to work,"