The increasing tendency to have algorithms, such as those used in AI technologies, make important decisions that affect our lives, raises important ethical questions. This is because many of those algorithms are infused with the same biases that undermine the capability of fair, impartial judgment in humans.

In their attempt to address these biases, researchers are focused too much on one kind of fairness, argues Tom Douglas, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Instead of prioritizing the fairness of outcomes, scientists are trying to achieve fairness solely in terms of procedures, regardless of the results. Tom Douglas believes that paying more attention to outcomes may be a better approach to countering algorithm bias.

Read more: Biased algorithms: here’s a more radical approach to creating fairness