Modern use case of artificial intelligence can be described as dangerous. AI facial recognition and audio evidence tools have been proven to be unreliable and racist in modern years. After all, as AI data sets are built upon human biases, those biases are intrinsically built into software. With this in mind, should there be an AI Bill of Rights?
The White House's science advisors believe so. After years of complications surrounding the ethical complications of artificial intelligence, White House officials want to restrict its uses.
White House science officers want AI Bill of Rights
Posted in a Wired opinion piece, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy advisors Eric Lander and Alondra Nelson called for the new Bill of Rights. They explained that the current complications of artificial intelligence limit personal freedoms and equality.
For example, AI-powered facial recognition software often misidentifies people of colour, leading to wrongful arrest. Additionally, algorithms used by hospitals have discounted the severity of diseases in Black Americans. These biases, intentional or otherwise, are found more often than not in AI programs, and those affected need protection.
Lander and Nelson explain that the “oppression, division, and discrimination” caused by AI must be tackled. Most importantly, new regulations must keep the public safe without necessarily limiting technological advancement.
AI should be respect democratic values
The White House officials explain that an AI Bill of Rights would be used to ensure AI abides by democratic values. This would limit AI from engaging in activities that affect a person's civil rights, which isn't a law right now.
Powerful technologies should be required to respect our democratic values and abide by the central tenet that everyone should be treated fairly. Our country should clarify the rights and freedoms we expect data-driven technologies to respect. What exactly those are will require discussion, but here are some possibilities: your right to know when and how AI is influencing a decision that affects your civil rights and civil liberties; your freedom from being subjected to AI that hasn’t been carefully audited to ensure that it’s accurate, unbiased, and has been trained on sufficiently representative data sets; your freedom from pervasive or discriminatory surveillance and monitoring in your home, community, and workplace; and your right to meaningful recourse if the use of an algorithm harms you.
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