Tobias D. Krafft

RPTU - Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern Landau | TUK · Network Analysis & Graph Theory

Several governmental organizations all over the world aim for algorithmic accountability of artificial intelligence systems. However, there are few specific proposals on how exactly to achieve it. This article provides an extensive overview of possible transparency and inspectability mechanisms that contribute to accountability for the technical co...

With the Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act) the European Union provides the first regulatory document that applies to the entire complex of AI systems. While some fear that the regulation leaves too much room for interpretation and thus bring little benefit to society, others expect that the r...

Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz haben DIN und DKE im Januar 2022 die Arbeiten an der zweiten Ausgabe der Deutschen Normungsroadmap Künstliche Intelligenz gestartet. In einem breiten Beteiligungsprozess und unter Mitwirkung von mehr als 570 Fachleuten aus Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, öffentlicher Hand und Zivilgesellsch...

AI is a complex, multifaceted concept and is therefore hard to define because AI can refer to technological artifacts, certain methods or a scientific field that is split into many subfields and that is continuously changing and evolving. AI systems can therefore be seen as digital artifacts that require hardware and software components and that co...

To hold software service and platform providers accountable, it is necessary to create trustworthy, quantified evidence of problematic algorithmic decisions, e.g., by large-scale black box analyses. In this article, we summarize typical and general challenges that arise when such studies are conducted. Those challenges were encountered in multiple...

What fits the human brain does not necessarily mean whatever is invented is meant for human brain. This is exactly what is implied by the definition of algorithm: \textit{Reducing and Simplifying}. Our cognitive apparatus, although endowed with certain parameters, ceases to comprehend chains of mathematical and logical steps used for algorithmic or...

Algorithmic decision-making (ADM) promises to strengthen evidence-based decisions, particularly to better manage risks in various domains. Its use also extends to the criminal justice system where algorithmic risk assessments potentially provide very valuable evidence that can inform highly sensitive decisions. Yet, such algorithmic tools also intr...

Computational decision support tools that utilise machine learning (‘ML’) are increasingly being used to inform decisions about the treatment of individuals within criminal justice systems, including decisions about the pre-trial process, sentencing and parole. Supporters of these tools variously claim that they offer the potential to improve the c...

Rund ein Jahr haben DIN und DKE in einem gemeinsamen Projekt mit dem Bun-desministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie und zusammen mit ca. 300 Fachleuten aus Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, öffentlicher Hand und Zivilgesellschaft an der Nor-mungsroadmap Künstliche Intelligenz gearbeitet. Eine hochrangige Steuerungs-gruppe unter dem Vorsitz von Prof. Wolfgan...

Algorithmic decision‐making (ADM) systems have come to support, pre‐empt or substitute for human decisions in manifold areas, with potentially significant impacts on individuals' lives. Achieving transparency and accountability has been formulated as a general goal regarding the use of these systems. However, concrete applications differ widely in...

Concerns about social networks manipulating the (general) public opinion have become a recurring theme in recent years. Whether such an impact actually exists could so far only be tested to a very limited extent. Yet to guarantee the accountability of recommendation and information filtering systems, society needs to be able to determine whether th...

Artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly pervades all areas of life. To seize the opportunities this technology offers society, while limiting its risks and ensuring citizen protection, different stakeholders have presented guidelines for AI ethics. Nearly all of them consider similar values to be crucial and a minimum requirement for “ethically s...

Artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly pervades all areas of life. To seize the opportunities this technology offers society, while limiting its risks and ensuring citizen protection, different stakeholders have presented guidelines for AI ethics. Nearly all of them consider similar values to be crucial and a minimum requirement for “ethically s...

Since the h-index has been invented, it is the most frequently discussed bibliometric value and one of the most commonly used metrics to quantify a researcher’s scientific output. The more it is increasingly gaining popularity to use the metric as an indication of the quality of a job applicant or an employee the more important it is to assure its...

In this paper we present the results of the project “#Datenspende” where during the German election in 2017 more than 4000 people contributed their search results regarding keywords connected to the German election campaign. Analyzing the donated result lists we prove, that the room for personalization of the search results is very small. Thus the...

This report analyzes the Google search results from more than 1,500 volunteer data donors who, in the five weeks leading up to the federal election on September 24th, 2017, automatically searched Google for 16 predefined names of political parties and politicians every four hours. It is based on an adjusted database consisting of more than 8,000,00...

Recently, various decisions in security-related processes are assisted by so-called algorithmic decision making (ADM) systems, e.g., for predicting recidivism rates of criminals, for assessing the risk of a person being a terrorist, or the prediction of future criminal acts (predictive policing). However, the quality of such risk assessment is depe...

This master's thesis discusses an important issue regarding how algorithmic decision making (ADM) is used in crime forecasting. In America forecasting tools are widely used by judiciary systems for making decisions about risk offenders based on criminal justice for risk offenders. By making use of such tools, the judiciary relies on ADM in order to...

Unser erster Zwischenbericht hat gezeigt, dass unsere Datenspenderinnen und -spender auf Googles allgemeiner Suchmaschine im Durchschnitt sehr viele Links gemeinsam in ihren Suchergebnissen sehen. Wir kamen daher zu dem Schluss, dass für eine algorithmisch erzeugte oder vertiefende „Filterblase“ nach Eli Parisers Theorie nicht viel Raum sei. Die Th...

Google-Suchergebnislisten zu prominenten Politikern weisen im Wesentlichen sehr hohe Ähnlichkeit auf. Im Durchschnitt 7 bis 8 der Ergebnisse von im Mittel 9 der sogenannten organischen Suchergebnisse unterscheiden sich unter den Nutzern des Datenspendeprojekts nicht. Das ist ein Hinweis darauf, dass Personalisierung durch Suchmaschinen eine geri...

Die Wahl des Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika im Jahr 2016 wurde von hitzigen Diskussionen um mögliche Manipulationen der Bevölkerung und ihrer Meinungsbildung begleitet. Insbesondere wendeten sich diese Manipulationsvorwürfe gegen die sozialen Medien und auch gegen Google: Vor der Wahl wurden viele Stimmen laut, die behaupteten: ,,G...

In diesem Artikel geben wir eine grundlegende Einführung in die algorithmischen Empfehlungssysteme und wie sie – unter Umständen – Filterblasen und Echokammern in sozialen Medien erzeugen könnten. Der Term Filterblase beschreibt dabei das Phänomen, dass wir von Algorithmen hauptsächlich solche Themen wieder vorgeschlagen bekommen, die wir schon mög...