Vector Institute releases UnBias-Plus, a free, open-source AI tool to detect and rewrite bias in text

TORONTO — The Vector Institute today launched UnBias-Plus, a free, open-source AI tool built by Vector's AI Safety research scientists that helps detect, explain, and rewrite biased language in written content and AI training datasets — in seconds.

The release comes at a decisive moment. Canada's National AI Strategy: AI for All explicitly identifies addressing algorithmic bias as a pillar of responsible AI development, recognizing that unchecked bias in AI systems undermines equity, safety and public trust. The scale of the challenge is staggering: bias in AI training data has been measured at rates ranging from 3.4 per cent to 38.5 per cent, and even safety-tuned large language models (LLMs) exhibit implicit racial and gender bias — a troubling reality given that LLMs risk perpetuating and amplifying the very human biases embedded in the text they learn from.

UnBias-Plus is the first free tool of its kind available to both organizations and the general public. The tool analyzes written text for biased language across dimensions of race, gender, age and political framing, explains precisely why language has been flagged, suggests neutral alternatives, and returns a fully rewritten version of the original content. Rather than simply producing a revised copy, UnBias-Plus shows users why language may be biased, helping build a clearer understanding of how bias appears in everyday communication. The platform is available in two formats:

• A browser-based version for public use, supporting content of up to 750 words — practical for everyday writing and for organizations evaluating the tool before broader adoption; and
• A developer installer for integration into company applications, systems and workflows.

Shaina Raza, PhD Applied Machine Learning Scientist, Responsible AI, Vector Institute, said: “What drove us to build this was simple: the people most harmed by biased language are often the last to know it's there. A patient doesn't see the assumptions buried in their clinical notes. A job candidate doesn't know why a door keeps closing. We wanted to make the invisible visible — a free tool that surfaces bias, explains it and helps fix it. However, bias doesn't just live in a document someone writes today. It lives in the data used to train AI models and, when it goes undetected there, it gets learned, replicated and deployed at scale across entire organizations. UnBias-Plus gives developers and data scientists the ability to find and clean that bias before it becomes part of the model.”

UnBias-Plus is built to help professionals and sectors where language bias carries the highest real-world consequences, including:

• Editorial and media — Editors can integrate UnBias-Plus directly into their workflows to help identify and correct bias before publication, supporting more accurate, inclusive reporting.
• Human resources, EDI and workplace teams — The tool can be used to help screen job descriptions, performance reviews, promotion cases and internal communications for gendered, racialized or otherwise loaded language that can unintentionally create barriers for employees and candidates.

Kathryn Hume, VP AI Engineering, Vector Institute, said: “Canada's AI leadership depends on building systems that create more equitable outcomes — and that means ensuring the research behind those systems is accessible to everyone. Making UnBias-Plus free, transparent and open-source is a deliberate expression of Vector's mission as an independent, not-for-profit institute: research on how bias operates in AI and language affects all of society and the tools that come from it should be too. By opening this work to developers, organizations and the public, we're ensuring the ability to build fairer AI belongs to everyone.”

The browser-based version of UnBias-Plus is available now at unbias-plus.vectorinstitute.ai/. The open-source developer installer is available at pypi.org/project/unbias-plus/.

UnBias-Plus is Vector Institute's first release in a broader suite of Safe AI tools. Updates will expand capabilities with audio and video bias detection and misinformation detection tools planned for future release. To access other available products, please visit Vector’s site.

UnBias-Plus currently supports English-language text only. The tool does not verify factual accuracy, detect misinformation or identify AI-generated content.

About the Vector Institute:

The Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to research in AI, with a focus on machine learning and deep learning. Located in Toronto, Ontario, Vector attracts world-class researchers and works with industry, academia and government to drive AI innovation and talent development in Canada. Learn more at vectorinstitute.ai.