Protected Class
A group sharing a legally protected trait such as race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability. AI testing screens for proxy effects.
A protected class is a group of people defined by a characteristic that the law protects from discrimination. In insurance, the protected classes vary by state but usually include race, color, creed, national origin, sex, marital status, and sometimes sexual orientation or disability.
AI governance focuses on whether a model or data variable produces outcomes that differ by protected class, either directly or through proxies. The NYDFS proxy test starts by identifying whether a variable is correlated with a protected class. If it is, the carrier must then show the variable is required by a legitimate business need and that no less-discriminatory alternative exists.
Protected class is the anchor concept behind fair-lending and fair-insurance testing. Without naming the classes, a carrier cannot build a defensible bias-testing program. See our guide to the proxy test.