Parashah of the week: Mishpatim

I recently attended a meeting of parliamentarians and civil society representatives on the issue of algorithmic bias. This occurs when algorithms used in AI decision-making produce unfair or discriminatory outcomes. The problem is that the datasets used to train AI often comprise data unrepresentative of all of society or information which is itself biased.

In addition to a need for technical improvements and legislation, there is a view that systems can never truly be bias-free. So, those employing AI to make decisions, for example in relation to policing or job hiring, need to be alive to the limitations of the data and outputs produced.

The Torah is sensitive to the challenge of overcoming bias as demonstrated by the command “not to subvert the rights of the needy”. The command is directed at the judge but applies to all of us, hence why the warning appears among laws which apply generally. We often judge others too harshly or fail to take account of others’ unique circumstances before jumping to conclusions. Limiting our biases is a constant effort.

Who is “the needy” (evyon) referred to in this law? Maimonides explains, it is the non-observant: “If two people come before a judge one observant and one unobservant, [the judge] should not say that the unobservant can be presumed to be lying and the other can be presumed not to lie” (Mishneh Torah, Sanhedrin 20:5).

There is an awareness here that observant people often instinctively make assumptions about unobservant people that may not be accurate. The religious judge is particularly susceptible to such innate bias, hence why the warning is directed at him, but the unobservant will have their own biases.

The list of those we may innately favour, or fear is endless. Bias creeps in from every direction. The parashah warns against showing favour to the poor in a dispute (Exodus 23:3), oppressing the stranger (Exodus. 23:9), or taking gifts (Exodus 23:8). The rabbis also warn judges not to hear a party’s claim outside the presence of the other party, linking it to the command “not to raise a false report” (Exodus 23:1; Talmud, Shavuot 31a). The danger, writes the Sefer Hachinuch (13th century), is that “the untruth of one of them might enter [the judge’s] soul” (Mitzvah 74).

Our problem is that our access to objective truth is limited. We can never fully reach beyond our own experiences. There is no view from nowhere. Yet, knowing this allows for humility and leads to justice, which is perhaps why the Talmud sees modesty and humility as supreme judicial qualities (Talmud Sanhedrin 88b).