In a first of its kind move, the White House has seen its science advisors propose an AI “Bill of Rights” to limit the scope of artificial intelligence (AI) harms. The Office of Science and Technology Policy has, on Friday, launched a new fact-finding mission, aimed at facial recognition software and other biometric technologies, that are being used to identify people, and also to assess their mental or emotional states.
Taking the First Step
Chief Science Advisor Eric Lander, along with Deputy Director for Science and Society, Alondra Nelson, have published a piece in Wired magazine, highlighting the need to come up with new legislations and safeguards against the harmful and faulty use of AI, which can be used to violate people’s privacy and unfairly discriminate between them.
In their piece, they say that while the first step is to “enumerate the rights,” they are also looking to convince the federal government to refuse to buy tech and software that “fails to respect these rights.” Another option might be to make it mandatory for federal contractors to comply to this “bill of rights” while making use of such technologies, and adopt new regulations to fill any gaps.
Meanwhile at the EU
This comes as the first time the Biden administration has come up with a rather straightforward plan to tackle its concerns regarding AI. Their European counterparts have already taken a few measures to rein in risky artificial intelligence applications. Lawmakers at the European Parliament have decided to take a vote towards banning biometric mass surveillance, but none of the member nations are being forced into voting up the new rules, which would block the use of facial scanning tools in public.
Leaders across many countries have expressed their desire to balance the growing concerns about the reliability of AI tools, while tapping into their economic and societal potential.
Calling for Companies to Test the Risks
As per a federal document filed on Friday, public comments are being invited from AI developers, experts, and people who have been affected by the use of such tech to collect biometric data. The Software Trade Association, which is backed by firms like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce, has welcomed the move by the White House, but is also calling for companies to be required to perform their own assessment of the risks posed by AI product, and demonstrate how they would mitigate these risks.
Source: Gadgets 360