Advertising has a bias problem | The Weather Company
Advertising has a bias problem
A close look at unintended bias in advertising and how organizations can take action.
by The Weather Company
Why care?
Advertising has the power to shape society and drive our economy. Industries with far less influence and reach than ours are being held to a higher standard when it comes to addressing bias at the core. It’s time for the advertising industry to hold itself accountable.
We’ve made significant improvements to eliminate deep-seated prejudice and inequality. The creative we see today, for example, is far more balanced and representative of all consumers versus the chosen few that were historically featured.
However, the same level of effort has not been applied to the advertising technology that enables connections between brands and consumers.
As we reinvent the advertising technology infrastructure with consumer trust at the center, we must build a system that addresses bias in the technology that powers the entire marketing industry. It’s a business imperative and it’s the right thing to do.
Bias in advertising technology
In the summer of 2021, The Weather Company announced a research initiative using Artificial Intelligence to gauge the prevalence of unwanted bias in digital advertising and explore how to reduce it. We proved our hypothesis right: bias exists in advertising technology, and AI can help identify and mitigate it.
After sharing our initial research findings in January 2022, we began to enhance tools, data and AI models to create powerful open-source technologies that can help automate bias mitigation in advertising.
Take action
We are on an industry-wide mission to get brands, agencies, industry associations and ad tech providers to join us and to commit to addressing bias in advertising so that we can create a fairer, more equitable industry – together. Here’s how you can take action:
Explore the Advertising Toolkit for AI Fairness 360
Open-source collection of metrics, algorithms and fairness explainers
Access the Toolkit for free
Additional resources
Free, open-source Advertising Toolkit for AI Fairness 360
Industry leaders to act to mitigate bias in advertising
AI Could Mitigate Bias in Advertising Tech
Mindshare & GroupM Data Ethics Solutions
Partner Resource
Read the press release
IAB AI Standards Working Group Guide
Partner Resource
Understanding bias in AI for marketing
ANA/SeeHer Gender Equality Measure
Partner Resource
Learn about GEM
Let’s talk
What’s your weather strategy? To learn more about increasing campaign efficiencies and personalizing messages at the most relevant moments, contact our advertising experts today.
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