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Blog: ICO and The Alan Turing Institute open consultation on first piece of AI guidance.

The blog is aimed at data scientists, app developers, business owners, CEOs or data protection practitioners, whose organisations are using, or thinking about using, artificial intelligence (AI) to support, or to make, decisions about individuals.

What do we really understand about how decisions are made about us using artificial intelligence (AI)?  The potential for AI is huge, but its implementation is often complex, which makes it difficult for people to understand how it works.  And when people don’t understand a technology, it can lead to doubt, uncertainty & mistrust.

ICO research shows that over 50% of people are concerned about machines making complex automated decisions about them.  In our co-commissioned citizen jury research, the majority of people stated that in contexts where humans would usually provide an explanation, explanations of AI decisions should be similar to human explanations.

The decisions made using AI need to be properly understood by the people they impact. This is no easy feat and involves navigating the ethical and legal pitfalls around the decision-making process built-in to AI systems.  

The ICO has published their first draft regulatory guidance into the use of AI.  ‘Explaining decisions made with AI' is co-badged by the ICO and The Alan Turing Institute (The Turing) and is out for consultation until 24 January 2020.

AI is a key area of focus for the ICO.  When an independent review and the Government’s AI Sector Deal both called for the ICO and The Turing to create this guidance, we rose to the challenge.  Through the resulting draft guidance, we aim to help organisations explain how AI-related decisions are made to those affected by them.

The draft guidance lays out 4 key principles, rooted within the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Organisations must consider these when developing AI decision-making systems.  These are:

1. Be transparent
2. Be accountable
3. Consider context
4. Reflect on impacts

In the ICO’s interim report released in June, we stated that context was key to the ‘explainability’ of AI decisions. Our draft guidance goes into detail about different types of explanations, how to extract explanations of the logic used by the system to make a decision, and how to deliver explanations to the people they are about. It also outlines different types of explanation and emphasises the importance of using inherently explainable AI systems.

Real-world applicability is at the centre of our guidance.  Feedback is crucial to its success and we’re keen to hear from those considering or developing the use of AI.  Whether you’re a data scientist, app developer, business owner, CEO or data protection practitioner, we want to hear your thoughts. You can respond to this via online survey.

Fancy a career in AI? BCS launches AI Foundation Certificate.

Following the launch of the Essentials Certificate in Artificial Intelligence (AI) earlier this year – BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT is pleased to announce the release of the next certificate in this exciting new pathway – the BCS Foundation Certificate in AI.

BCS is the first & only provider offering an accredited certification in AI.  The new Foundation Certificate will include & expand upon the knowledge learned at the Essentials level. It has been designed to support professionals in this innovative & fast-growing field that holds immense potential for the business world.

The certificate incorporates learning on both the academic theory and practical applications of AI, providing definition and standardisation to this newly emerging area of IT.

Digital citizens’ survey: please share with your residents

Socitm’s strategic partner Novoville has created a survey designed to gauge how well local governments are supporting their residents through digital delivery of services, and what could be done better and how.

What is happening?

Technology has created more channels for communications & service delivery, but does this work for everyone and for every service?  Even confident technology users might prefer to speak in person about some issues. The Novoville survey is trying to find out what those issues might be.

Legislation from last year (The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 ) means that public services do need to assess & issue a statement on how accessible their websites are. Contributions from people through this survey could be combined with an assessment from Socitm’s BetterConnected+ site test to feed into completing and publishing statements.

Why is it happening?

LGA responds to Age UK report on social care delayed transfers of care.

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, recently responded to a report by Age UK on delayed transfers of care attributable to social care and the need to put adult social care on a sustainable financial footing: 

“The next government needs to bring forward substantive proposals for the future of adult social care as soon as possible, to reassure all those who use and work in this vital service.  We also need an honest debate about what the future of care and support should be and how it should be funded in the long-term.”

Editorial Comment; Having had recent contact with a senior citizen who had been discharged from hospital needing continuing care, one has become more aware of just how inadequate some aspects of the discharge process are. 

While those NHS personal who provide in-home treatment have been ‘great’, personal social care is now dependent on what he can pay for and experience has ‘forced’ him to purchase some ‘consumables’ to replace the free NHS choice (basically they leak urine & faeces).  Other issues include access to dental and chiropody services and other practical issues such as doors too narrow for a wheelchair/steps and difficulty manoeuvring a Zimmer frame.

Growing old & ill can be an expensive, messy and increasingly lonely experience!

Tucked away in an official EU press release last week was the phrase;  ‘Europe, more than most other world regions, depends on access to foreign markets for its prosperity, and this trend will only increase further: 90% of world growth will be generated outside the EU by 2020’.

With that phrase they confirmed the Leavers’ claim that the EU export market would continue to decline in importance to the UK (Civitas:  EU share of UK exports is in dramatic decline, new analysis shows) and that the UK could only benefit from the freedom to negotiate its own Free Trade deals (FTAs) rather having to accept the EC being able dictate the terms of FTA deals which may not suit the UK economy.

Africa is often ‘touted’ as a continent of untapped potential for trade deals and we are fortunate in that many of the constituent countries are members of the Commonwealth.

One notes that the Commonwealth population is over 5 times the size of a post Brexit EU! ~ UK & Commonwealth will champion free trade in face of growing global challenges

Rather than looking to a ‘shrinking’ existing market we should be looking to the ‘markets of the future’ including Australasia, India, Asia and South & North America, etc.

The future for expanding exports is in World Trade not the EU ~ UKAS Accreditation: Supporting UK business in a post-Brexit world

Perhaps now that the EU has ‘accepted’ it is declining in opportunities for trade, UK Remainers will stop ‘crying wolf’  about changes in our  trading relationship with the EU!