Measurement as governance in and for responsible AI

Abstract: Measurement of social phenomena is everywhere, unavoidably, in sociotechnical systems. This is not (only) an academic point: Fairness-related harms emerge when there is a mismatch in the measurement process between the thing we purport to be measuring and the thing we actually measure. However, the measurement process -- where social, cultural, and political values are implicitly encoded in sociotechnical systems -- is almost always obscured. Furthermore, this obscured process is where important governance decisions are encoded: governance about which systems are fair, which individuals belong in which categories, and so on. We can then use the language of measurement, and the tools of construct validity and reliability, to uncover hidden governance decisions. In particular, we highlight two types of construct validity, content validity and consequential validity, that are useful to elicit and characterize the feedback loops between the measurement, social construction, and enforcement of social categories. We then explore the constructs of fairness, robustness, and responsibility in the context of governance in and for responsible AI. Together, these perspectives help us unpack how measurement acts as a hidden governance process in sociotechnical systems. Understanding measurement as governance supports a richer understanding of the governance processes already happening in AI -- responsible or otherwise -- revealing paths to more effective interventions.