SafeRent is a machine learning black box for landlords. It gives landlords a numerical rating of potential tenants and a yes/no result on whether to rent to them.

In May 2022, Massachusetts housing voucher recipients and the Community Action Agency of Somerville sued the company, claiming SafeRent gave Black and Hispanic rental applicants with housing vouchers disproportionately lower scores.

The tenants had no visibility into how the algorithm scored them. Appeals were rejected on the basis that this was what the computer output said.

  • @AngryCommieKender
    link
    English
    54 days ago

    Residential renters generally don’t use a real estate agent.

      • @AngryCommieKender
        link
        English
        33 days ago

        I’m not certain if we have letting agents in the US. I certainly have never used one, and I’ve rented in at least 30+ states. I’ve lived in 49/50, but that’s counting while living with my parents, so I’m not going through the effort to figure out the exact number.

        I would agree with your humorous throwaway, but that is actually the reality of the US unfortunately.

      • @AngryCommieKender
        link
        English
        12 days ago

        Well that isn’t the US, clearly. The article is about the US.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          124 hours ago

          And my comment is clearly about whichever job is managing the task being replaced by AI. What does it matter if you think the job title is wrong?