On Friday, July 30, 2021, Twitter announced a competition for hackers and computer researchers to detect and identify biases in the platform’s image-cropping algorithm. The winners of the competition will receive cash prizes from $500 to $3,500 and will get a chance to present their work at a workshop at DEF CON in August. The aim of the competition is to find potential harms of the image-cropping algorithm and rectify them.
Twitter launches the industry’s first algorithmic bias bounty competition
Back in May 2021, Twitter shared their approach to identify bias in its saliency algorithm, which is also known as the image-cropping algorithm. With the recent competition announcement, Twitter wants to invite and incentivise users, researchers and professionals from the community to discover and identify the harms of the algorithm. Twitter also hosted a conversation on their audio-based feature called Spaces on July 30, 2021, to discuss the challenge. The challenge comes after a group of researchers found Twitter’s algorithm to exclude Black people and men.
Twitter also mentions in an official blog post that “We’re inspired by how the research and hacker communities helped the security field establish best practices for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in order to protect the public.” Adding to it, Twitter mentions that it aims to set a precedent in the industry for proactive and collective identification of algorithmic harms. To apply, one can go to the application portal on HackerOne. To take part in the challenge, applicants must go through all the terms and conditions and legal disclaimer given on the application page. One must have a HackerOne account in order to participate in the Twitter algorithmic bias bounty competition.
Twitter Algorithmic Bias Event Notes
- Entry period 7/30/21 9:01 am PT through 8/6/21 11:59 pm PT
- Winners will be announced at the DEF CON AI Village workshop hosted by Twitter on August 9th, 2021.
- Optionally, we invite the winners to present their work during the workshop at DEF CON although conference attendance is not a requirement to compete.
Twitter Algorithmic Bias Event prize
- $3,500 1st Place
- $1,000 2nd Place
- $500 3rd Place
- $1,000 for Most Innovative
- $1,000 for Most Generalizable (i.e., applies to the most types of algorithms).
