Language (Technology) is Power: A Critical Survey of ``Bias'' in NLP

We survey 146 papers analyzing {``}bias{''} in NLP systems, finding that their motivations are often vague, inconsistent, and lacking in normative reasoning, despite the fact that analyzing {``}bias{''} is an inherently normative process. We further find that these papers{'} proposed quantitative techniques for measuring or mitigating {``}bias{''} are poorly matched to their motivations and do not engage with the relevant literature outside of NLP. Based on these findings, we describe the beginnings of a path forward by proposing three recommendations that should guide work analyzing {``}bias{''} in NLP systems. These recommendations rest on a greater recognition of the relationships between language and social hierarchies, encouraging researchers and practitioners to articulate their conceptualizations of {``}bias{''}---i.e., what kinds of system behaviors are harmful, in what ways, to whom, and why, as well as the normative reasoning underlying these statements{---}and to center work around the lived experiences of members of communities affected by NLP systems, while interrogating and reimagining the power relations between technologists and such communities.