AI Incident Database: UT Austin's GRADE Algorithm Reportedly Reduced Review of Lower-Scored PhD Applicants Amid Bias Concerns
From the 2013 through 2019 admissions cycles, UT Austin's Department of Computer Science used GRADE, a statistical machine-learning system trained on past admissions decisions, to score and organize PhD applications. Critics said the system could reproduce historical admissions inequities and reduce attention to lower-scored applicants, while UT Austin said human reviewers still evaluated each file and later discontinued the tool.
AI Incident Database · Incident 135Operator lens (medium): inspect D1 (input boundary), D2 (output validation).
Event summary
From the 2013 through 2019 admissions cycles, UT Austin's Department of Computer Science used GRADE, a statistical machine-learning system trained on past admissions decisions, to score and organize PhD applications. Critics said the system could reproduce historical admissions inequities and reduce attention to lower-scored applicants, while UT Austin said human reviewers still evaluated each file and later discontinued the tool.
Linked entities
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organisation | 70%
- university-of-texas-at-austin's-department-of-computer-science
organisation | 70%
- risto-miikkulainen
organisation | 70%
- austin-waters
organisation | 70%
- university-students
organisation | 70%
- university-of-texas-at-austin-phd-applicants-of-marginalized-groups
organisation | 70%
- university-applicants
organisation | 70%
- students
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- phd-applicants-from-underrepresented-groups
organisation | 70%
- phd-applicants
organisation | 70%
- educational-communities
organisation | 70%
- computer-science-phd-applicants
organisation | 70%
Related graph edges
| Edge | Type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-university-of-texas-at-austin-researchers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |