Vetting data ...

Illustration by Lindsay Ballant/The Lever

Vetting data is rather important, something often not done right under the rubric of AI, is becoming prevalent as it's cheaper to use AI to verify information than us rubes as seen by a Lever article titled

 Artificial Intelligence Is Making The Housing Crisis Worse.

To whit.

When Chris Robinson applied to move into a California senior living community five years ago, the property manager ran his name through an automated screening program that reportedly used artificial intelligence to detect “higher-risk renters.” Robinson, then 75, was denied after the program assigned him a low score — one that he later learned was based on a past conviction for littering.

Not only did the crime have little bearing on whether Robinson would be a good tenant, it wasn’t even one that he’d committed. The program had turned up the case of a 33-year-old man with the same name in Texas — where Robinson had never lived. He eventually corrected the error but lost the apartment and his application fee nonetheless, according to a federal class-action lawsuit that moved towards settlement this month. The credit bureau TransUnion, one of the largest actors in the multi-billion-dollar tenant screening industry, agreed to pay $11.5 million to resolve claims that its programs violated fair credit reporting laws.

It's all about the money yet again.