The White House has introduced a blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights in an effort to address some of the biggest issues with the tech.
Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize countless industries and possibly society itself. The tech has alternatively been hailed as mankind’s savior or the greatest existential threat ever faced. Even when not concerned about world-ending results, many critics are still worried about inequality, biases, and privacy.
The White House is looking to address the major concerns with AI’s growing reach via its AI Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights includes five guiding principles, excerpts of which are included below:
Safe and Effective Design
“Automated systems should be developed with consultation from diverse communities, stakeholders, and domain experts to identify concerns, risks, and potential impacts of the system. Systems should undergo pre-deployment testing, risk identification and mitigation, and ongoing monitoring that demonstrate they are safe and effective based on their intended use, mitigation of unsafe outcomes including those beyond the intended use, and adherence to domain-specific standards.”
Algorithmic Discrimination Protections
“Designers, developers, and deployers of automated systems should take proactive and continuous measures to protect individuals and communities from algorithmic discrimination and to use and design systems in an equitable way.”
Data Privacy
“Designers, developers, and deployers of automated systems should seek your permission and respect your decisions regarding collection, use, access, transfer, and deletion of your data in appropriate ways and to the greatest extent possible; where not possible, alternative privacy by design safeguards should be used.”
Notice and Explanation
“Designers, developers, and deployers of automated systems should provide generally accessible plain language documentation including clear descriptions of the overall system functioning and the role automation plays, notice that such systems are in use, the individual or organization responsible for the system, and explanations of outcomes that are clear, timely, and accessible.”
Human Alternatives, Consideration, and Fallback
“You should be able to opt out from automated systems in favor of a human alternative, where appropriate. Appropriateness should be determined based on reasonable expectations in a given context and with a focus on ensuring broad accessibility and protecting the public from especially harmful impacts. In some cases, a human or other alternative may be required by law.”
Overall, the White House’s AI Bill of Rights is a major step forward and could be a boon for AI development.