White House Releases ‘AI Bill Of Rights’ To Protect People From Malicious Bots
Composite illustration 70263648 © Undrey | Dreamstime.com
Recently, there’s been some confusion over Bruce Willis’ face and its role in deepfaking projects. This has fueled a string of misunderstood reports suggesting that the actor had sold exclusive rights to his digital likeness—a move that he has vehemently denied.
In the grand scheme of things, the incident doesn’t compare with many other dangers of artificial intelligence, but it’s a symptom of how little people understand about their rights in this area and the need for transparency.
The White House has now published a blueprint it calls the AI Bill of Rights to drive more thoughtful and ethical AI practices in healthcare, education, employment, and more.
While not legally-binding, these guidelines will hopefully encourage businesses and engineers to protect users and take accountability for how their AI tools—including surveillance and facial recognition tools—may affect people’s lives. Algorithms are often riddled with racial and gender bias, proliferating the marginalization of some communities.
As of now, there are no federal laws dedicated to AI, though CNN reports that some states have enforced their own regulations. In Illinois, for example, there’s the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which makes it compulsory for companies to obtain people’s consent before collecting biometric data like their iris scans or fingerprints.
The proposal introduces five principles. The first says that Americans should be safeguarded from “unsafe or ineffective” AI systems, while another proclaims that algorithms should be “equitable” and not discriminate.
The third guideline urges companies to enforce preventive measures against “abusive” AI data practices, and the fourth reminds businesses that consumers should be aware when an automated system is in use as well as how they might be affected by it. Finally, the bill calls for the ability for people to opt-out of AI systems and seek help from humans if they so wish.
The Joe Biden administration says everyone in America deserves to be protected from such discrimination, in addition to being alerted of how their data is being handled.
[via CNN and Reuters, cover illustration (composite) 70263648 © Undrey | Dreamstime.com]
