Pearcey Institute submission to Australia's AI Ethics Consultation
The Pearcey Institute submitted feedback to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science public consultation on Artificial Intelligence: Australia's Ethics Framework discussion paper released in April 2019.
Pearcey members with expertise in the developing international approach on ethical frameworks for AI, attended the briefing sessions and and reviewed the paper. Our feedback includes responses to the questions asked in the discussion document, as well as broader views on the challenges of developing this framework based upon our collective experience of the evolution and adoption of technology in all aspects of our lives to-date.
In summary, the following high level observations were made:
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A concern about the challenges around defining "Artificial Intelligence", and
furthermore defining the workforce that would be impacted by an AI framework. -
A recommendation to consider a layered solution, cascading from high-level
considerations to the minutiae of specific use-cases, similar to a number of Risk
Assessment frameworks. -
In addition to the introduction of machine-driven decision making, we raise the
related topic of unauthorised reuse of data acquired without our knowledge. -
A concern about the pragmatics of applying an AI ethics framework, and how it
will be used ("enforced"). - A recommendation to align the framework for AI to existing frameworks.
