The White House is actively taking steps to address the dangers of artificial intelligence.
Key Details
- The Biden administration has released a blueprint for how to mitigate the negative effects of automation and artificial intelligence.
- The administration cited the risks of racial bias and discrimination in algorithms, unsafe healthcare applications, and social-media data harvesting as issues that need to be addressed.
- “Among the great challenges posed to democracy today is the use of technology, data, and automated systems in ways that threaten the rights of the American public. Too often, these tools are used to limit our opportunities and prevent our access to critical resources or services,” says the press release.
- “The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence.”
- The five principles include safe systems, algorithmic discrimination protections, data privacy, notice and explanation, and human alternatives to automated solutions.
Why it’s news
The blueprint is not a legally binding document—but sets the direction for how the administration hopes to direct ethical considerations surrounding artificial intelligence applications.
“The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights notably does not set out specific enforcement actions, but instead is intended as a White House call to action for the U.S. government to safeguard digital and civil rights in an AI-fueled world,” says AP.
As we previously reported, there is a lot of discussion about the ethics and safe usage of artificial intelligence. Google and Amazon have faced recent criticism for the negative potential of their applications, as watchdogs fear the companies may violate sensitive data and privacy. Google was recently forced to hire a new ethicist to address the fears of algorithmic racial bias.
“[It] represents a major advance in the administration’s agenda to hold technology companies accountable and highlights various federal agencies’ commitments to weighing new rules and studying the specific impacts of AI technologies,” says AP.
Notable quote
“This is the Biden-Harris administration really saying that we need to work together, not only just across government but across all sectors, to really put equity at the center and civil rights at the center of the ways that we make and use and govern technologies. We can and should expect better and demand better from our technologies,” says deputy director Alondra Nelson.
