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.
Crappy-ass fine and simply a “cost of doing business” for them I bet. Damages have been done for which there is no undoing. Deplorable.