Breakdown of Si el algoritmo tiene un sesgo, no es ético.
ser
to be
no
no, not
tener
to have
un
a, an (masculine)
Questions & Answers about Si el algoritmo tiene un sesgo, no es ético.
Why doesn't this sentence use the subjunctive like the other examples in this lesson?
Our current lesson focuses on phrases like es ético que (it is ethical that) which trigger the subjunctive. However, this sentence doesn't use que. It uses a si (if) clause for a real, possible situation. In Spanish, present-tense si clauses always use the normal indicative mood, which is why we see tiene instead of the subjunctive tenga.
I haven't seen the word sesgo before. Is that the normal word for 'bias'?
Yes! Sesgo translates to 'bias', 'slant', or 'skew'. It is the exact word you need when talking about statistics, media, or a computer program having a built-in prejudice.
Does no es ético mean 'the algorithm is not ethical' or just 'it is not ethical' in general?
It could mean either, and both make sense here! Because Spanish drops subject pronouns, no es ético could literally mean 'it (the algorithm) is not ethical.' It could also be an impersonal expression meaning 'the situation is not ethical.' If you wanted to use the exact structure from this lesson, you could rephrase it as: No es ético que el algoritmo tenga un sesgo (It is not ethical that the algorithm has a bias).
Why is there no 'h' or 'th' in algoritmo like there is in the English word 'algorithm'?