The most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models are trained on terabytes of data written by people with their own life experiences, views, values, and perspectives. The result: Bias is inherent in AI, and if left unchecked, it can cause serious harm to your company. It can result in legal issues, lost customers, and damaged relationships.
Rebuilding trust after an embarrassing public incident can take months or years. The math is simple: Spending five minutes reviewing AI content for bias now can save you hours or weeks of damage control later. Smart companies use skilled human writers and AI content editors to control risk by catching and eliminating bias in their AI-generated content before it goes public.
Here’s how to spot and fix bias in AI-generated content before it damages your company or your personal brand.
Where Bias Comes From
Bias in AI-generated text can be traced to three main sources:
- The data that it’s trained on
- The prompts that we give it
- The way that results are filtered
AI models learn from massive collections of text and data pulled from the internet, including every kind of human opinion from racism and sexism to stereotypes and political leanings. AI just learns patterns; it doesn’t understand fairness nor does it know how to judge it.
Bias can also be subtly included in the prompts we give an AI model to generate text. A biased or leading prompt will steer the output in a certain direction, much like a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we prompt AI with, for example: “Why are men less emotional than women?” the model assumes this is a true statement and that men actually are less emotional than women.
Bias can also come from the way the AI models are trained and tuned. Some AI chatbots promote “preferred” answers or rewrite content so that it sounds neutral. This can introduce new forms of bias by suppressing minority or unpopular views.
To get started in spotting and fixing bias in AI-generated content, look for both obvious and subtle signs of bias.
Spotting Obvious Signs of Bias
It’s best to start with easy-to-spot bias, such as outdated terminology like “mankind,” “policeman,” or “mailman.” Replace those terms with “human beings,” “police officers,” and “postal workers.” Also look for explicit stereotypes like “Women are naturally nurturing” and “Older workers struggle with technology.”
It’s also important to see if entire demographics are missing from the content, such as content about parents that only mentions mothers, not fathers or care-givers. Also watch out for one-sided text that presents controversial topics as settled facts. Finally, look for and fix overtly promotional language that shows strong favoritism without any evidence to support it.
Spotting Subtle Signs of Bias
The harder-to-catch signs of bias can be hidden anywhere. They can start with assuming every leader is a man and every nurse is a woman. They can hide in the content’s tone, where language like “clearly” or “obviously” favors one side of an argument over another.
Be alert to phrases that treat one group’s experience as a universal truth, normalizing an experience that may be anything but normal. In addition, be alert to opinions that are stated as universal truths without substantiation; if they seem too good to be truth, it’s a red flag that they need to be thoroughly checked.
Be aware of cultural assumptions that treat holidays or customs as if they are the same around the world. Ask yourself if this would offend someone from a different background.
Finally, watch out for passive voice that hides those responsible for mistakes and transgressions with phrases like “mistakes were made” instead of naming who did what.
Spotting & Fixing Bias: Before and After Examples
Here are two “before and after” examples that spot bias with suggestions on how to eliminate it.
Example #1
Bias Spotted: “The CEO made the tough decisions while his assistant organized the details.”
This sentence assumes that CEOs are male and that leadership is inherently a masculine trait. At the same time, it reduces support roles to administrative work.
Bias Fixed: “The CEO focused on strategic decisions while the operations manager executed the implementation plan.”
The revised version uses gender-neutral language, defines the assistant’s role, and removes the devaluation of certain types of work.
Example #2
Bias Spotted: “Working parents struggle to balance career and childcare. Mothers often feel guilty about missing school events.”
This sentence assumes that “working parents” means mothers. It ignores fathers and non-parents that have caregiver responsibilities.
Bias Fixed: “Many working parents face challenges balancing career demands with family responsibilities. Parents of all genders, as well as those caring for elderly relatives, often must navigate competing priorities.”
This revised version uses inclusive language, acknowledges the diversity of family structures, and eliminates the mother-as-the-primary-caregiver stereotype.
What to Do When You’re Unsure
Not every bias is obvious, and sometimes you may second-guess yourself when you are reviewing the content. When you are unsure, ask for another opinion. You can show the content in question to someone from a different background, gender, age, culture, or level of experience. Fresh eyes can catch what may not have seen clearly. You can take a break, like a short walk, and then read it again with a fresh perspective.
If you really can’t tell if something is biased, also err on the side of safety by rewriting it. Ask yourself: “Is there a way to rewrite this so it’s unbiased and neutral without changing its context or meaning?”
Bias: Catch & Eliminate
Bias in AI-generated content isn’t always easy to catch, but it must be looked for as an essential part of the content creation workflow. As they humanize your AI content, skilled human AI writers and AI content editors can spot and fix bias in AI-generated content before it damages your company. The bottom line: Never hit “publish” without thoroughly reviewing – and rereviewing as necessary – to make sure your content is fair, credible, and accurate.
Want to make sure your AI-generated content is unbiased? As the founder of Writing For Humans™, Randy Savicky knows how to combine AI efficiency with human judgment to produce content that’s authentic, accurate, and bias-free. Contact him at (203) 571-8151 or send an email to randy@writingforhumans.co.
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