AI for All? Addressing the Biases in Automation 2023 | Global Government Forum | 27 June 2023 | Webinar

The development of artificial intelligence creates opportunities to automate public sector bureaucracy and improve the delivery of public services. However, concerns are growing that the use of AI algorithms could also perpetuate and exacerbate existing inequalities and disparities in society.

In particular, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities Gerard Quinn highlighted that artificial intelligence “hinges on the information and data provided to the machine”. When an artificial intelligence model is required to, for example, identify the best candidate for a job, it does so based on data about employers have deemed successful in the past – a process that the report said was “unlikely to account for the benefits of diverse candidates who do not conform to historical hiring norms, such as persons with disabilities”.

And data used to train artificial intelligence systems will often include data shaped by prior human decisions and value judgments. “If the human decisions that the data set represents are discriminatory, the artificial intelligence system will likely process new data in the same discriminatory fashion, thereby perpetuating the problem”, he added.

It is not just the UN that is raising concerns. The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission has announced it is monitoring the use of artificial intelligence by public bodies to ensure technologies are not discriminating against people, and the office of Australia’s merit protection commissioner has warned of ‘AI-assisted recruitment myths’, including that all AI-assisted and automated tools are reliably unbiased.
This webinar will look at how governments can use artificial intelligence in hiring decisions and beyond in a way that reduces inequality rather than exacerbates it.

Join this webinar to find out:
• The risks and opportunities to using artificial intelligence in public services.
• The areas where AI can be best used in government – and where the risks are greatest.
• What governments can do to maximise the inclusive and equitable use of AI.