Keynote

Fair, transparent, and accountable AI: What is legally required, what is ethically desired, and what is technically feasible?

Sandra Wachter

2024 Keynote

Abstract

AI is increasingly used to make automated decisions about humans. These decisions include assessing creditworthiness, hiring decisions, and sentencing criminals. Due to the inherent opacity of these systems and their potential discriminatory effects, policy and research efforts around the world are needed to make AI fairer, more transparent, and explainable.

To tackle this issue the EU recently passed the Artificial Intelligence Act – the world’s first comprehensive framework to regulate AI. The new proposal has several provisions that require bias testing and monitoring as well as transparency tools. But is Europe ready for this task?

In this session I will examine several EU legal frameworks and demonstrate how AI weakens legal recourse mechanisms. I will also explain how current technical fixes such as bias tests - which are often developed in the US - are not only insufficient to protect marginalised groups but also clash with the legal requirements in Europe.

I will then introduce some of the solutions I have developed to test for bias, explain black box decisions and to protect privacy that were implemented by tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Vodaphone and IBM and fed into public policy recommendations and legal frameworks around the world.

Speaker

Sandra Wachter

Sandra Wachter is Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford where she researches the legal and ethical implications of AI, Big Data, and robotics as well as Internet and platform regulation. Her current research focuses on profiling, inferential analytics, explainable AI, algorithmic bias, diversity, and fairness, as well as governmental surveillance, predictive policing, human rights online, and health tech and medical law. At the OII, Professor Wachter leads and coordinates the Governance of Emerging Technologies (GET) Research Programme that investigates legal, ethical, and technical aspects emerging technologies. Professor Wachter is also an affiliate and member at numerous institutions, such as the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, the IEEE, the World Bank and UNESCO, and she also serves as a policy advisor for governments, companies, and NGO’s around the world on regulatory and ethical questions concerning emerging technologies.

Video

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