How do human rights and artificial intelligence mix? It gets complicated. But this Tuesday, the White House proposed a solution to the tangle: an AI Bill of Rights.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology can cause serious privacy concerns. The Chinese government has used AI—along with data from Tesla cars—to identify people who might question the Communist Party. The United Arab Emirates uses AI eye-scanning technology to identify travelers, raising questions about mass surveillance.
The ethical issues don’t stop there. You would assume machines don’t share human biases. But artificial intelligence functions on data from millions of real humans. Sometimes, it absorbs human prejudice. One investigation found that an algorithm used for child welfare discriminated against black children. Another showed that AI used for evaluating résumés and job applications was operating with a bias against female applicants.
The proposed AI Bill of Rights results from the work of over two dozen government departments. They consulted industry researchers and tech companies such as Microsoft. The document doesn’t legally enforce new rules, but it calls other government entities to action. It lays out five core principles:
1. AI technologies should work efficiently and be secure.
2. AI technologies shouldn’t discriminate against people.
3. AI technologies should protect the information of their users.
4. People should know when AI systems will affect them.
5. You should always be able to talk to a real person instead of a machine.
These guidelines could protect freedoms on a federal level. But many states and cities also use AI-powered tools. Federal-level guidelines don’t help there. These guidelines also don’t apply to non-government companies.
The document also praises the benefits of AI. Artificial intelligence can help farmers grow food more efficiently. It can even help scientists identify diseases.
But without care, those benefits come at the cost of freedom. Perhaps an AI Bill of Rights can help governments use technology with wisdom.
One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless. — Proverbs 14:16
(Alondra Nelson, Deputy Director for Science and Society at the Office of White House Science and Technology Policy, presents the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. AP/Matt Slocum)
