mathwash
mathwash verb: to use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively.
Verb
mathwash (third-person singular simple present mathwashes, present participle mathwashing, simple past and past participle mathwashed)
- To use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively.
- The issue is definitional: "algorithm" has been used to mathwash functionality that would otherwise be considered arbitrary with objectivity2016 May 9, @fredbenenson, Twitter, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2024
- While our systems can be assistants or even collaborators, we do not want to hand off responsibility to them. When we treat machine learning systems as oracles, rather than as assistants, we are headed in the wrong direction. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that a decision is fair because it...2018 January 1, Mike Loukides, “The problem with building a "fair" system”, in O'Reilly Radar, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2023
Examples of mathwash in a sentence
- We can't afford to "mathwash" important decisions.2018 January 1, Mike Loukides, “The problem with building a "fair" system”, in O'Reilly Radar, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2023:
- Deliberate mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is tweaked in order to course correct or skew the bias.2018 January 29, Sophie Kleber, “As AI Meets the Reputation Economy, We're All Being Silently Judged”, in Harvard Business Review...
- Striking Instacart workers have also opposed the company's "black box" app, which sets workers' pay via an unintelligible model that "mathwashes" their exploitation.2021 January 29, Nantina Vgontzas, Meredith Whittaker, “These Machines Won't Kill Fascism: Toward a Militant Progressive Vision for Tech”...
Forms of mathwash
| third-person singular present | mathwashes |
|---|---|
| present participle | mathwashing |
| past participle | mathwashed |
| past | mathwashed |
Origin of mathwash
From math + -wash. Coined by Fred Benenson in 2016 (see quotation below).
Words formed from mathwash
Questions about mathwash
- What does mathwash mean?
- Mathwash means to use data and algorithms to create the false impression that a subjective decision or policy was made objectively.
- How do you use mathwash in a sentence?
- We can't afford to "mathwash" important decisions.
- What part of speech is mathwash?
- Mathwash is a verb.
- What is the past tense of mathwash?
- The past tense of mathwash is mathwashed.
Words near mathwash in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mathwash (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “mathwash.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mathwash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.