Can AI aid policymaking?
Data Activist In Residence Renée Cummings discusses the potential for AI driven systems in the public sector to entrench and legitimize inequality. There is a movement calling for greater transparency in AI-backed policy decisions that could have long-term impact on communities, government, and democracy.
TECHMONITOR, by Cristina Lago
Published Sep. 1, 2021
AI in policymaking: ensuring fairness
The potential for AI systems to entrench and legitimize inequality has been well documented. At the policymaking level, this could be disastrous.
Evidence-driven policymaking is something to aspire to, says AI ethicist and data activist Renée Cummings. "But the challenge is that in the design, development and deployment of AI, equity is often sacrificed for expediency, and AI tools that promise efficiency and effectiveness often underdeliver because of the bias and discrimination baked into many data sets."
Cummings argues that, beyond frameworks and legal guidelines, the key to ensuring that AI-backed policymaking is equitable and fair is for it to be overseen by policymakers who understand the dangers of AI bias. “To design policy that is creative, innovative, equitable and responsive to the challenges of a post-pandemic reality, we need a critical rethinking of the data being used to design AI policy," she says. "We also need policymakers and technocrats who understand the importance of ethical AI and live by it."