WIREDGOV

Proposals to regulate Artificial Intelligence fall short of what’s needed to tackle the risks to human rights and equality, Britain’s equality watchdog has warned.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) says that while AI will bring many benefits, a greater focus on human rights and equality, together with significantly more funding for regulators such as the EHRC, is urgently needed to manage the potential of the rapidly advancing technology.

Their comments come as they responded to the UK government’s White Paper on AI regulations.

The watchdog, which upholds and enforces Britain’s equality and human rights laws, said it is uniquely placed to soften any negative impact of new technology.

Without these measures, Chairwoman of the EHRC, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, yesterday said:

“the equality risks associated with AI will continue unchecked.”

Baroness Falkner continued:

"We welcome the government’s focus on safe and responsible AI development, including the need for fairness in the way AI is implemented. But the proposed regulations do not go far enough.

“People want the benefits of new technology but also need safety nets to protect them from the risks posed by unchecked AI advancement.

“If any new technology is to bring innovation while keeping us safe, it needs careful oversight. This includes oversight to ensure that AI does not worsen existing biases in society or lead to new discrimination.

“To rise to this challenge, we need to boost our capability and scale up our operation as a regulator of equality and human rights. We cannot do that without government funding.”

The rights watchdog has urged the UK government to provide sufficient resources to a range of regulators, including the EHRC and members of the Digital Regulators Cooperation Forum, to ensure they can fulfil their roles effectively.

The EHRC acknowledges the White Paper is a step forward in providing protection from AI, and welcomes the government’s aspiration for the UK to become a leader in AI regulation. The EHRC is committed to promoting responsible AI innovation, and urges the UK government to establish and invest in a robust regulatory framework that ensures the ethnical and fair development of AI technologies.

Baroness Falkner added:

"We are ambitious for the role the EHRC can play in ensuring AI safely protects equality and human rights. We are already collaborating with other regulatory bodies to achieve this goal.

“As AI technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, we must strike the right balance between innovation to improve public services and UK businesses, and the safeguarding of human rights and equality for everyone in Britain, as enshrined in law.”

Read the full response to the AI White Paper

Notes to Editors:

1. The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, recently stated that discrimination is a more pressing concern from advancing artificial intelligence than human extinction. Vestager explained “guardrails” were need to counter the technology’s biggest risks and this was key where AI is being used to make decisions that can affect someone’s livelihood, such as applying for a mortgage. Source: BBC.
2. Addressing the equality and human rights impact of artificial intelligence is a core priority for the EHRC. While responsible and ethical use of AI can bring many benefits, we recognise that with increased use of AI comes an increased risk of existing discrimination being exacerbated by algorithmic biases.
3. Examples of the EHRC’s work on AI include:

• Publishing guidance for public bodies looking to buy and use AI. The guidance provides advice on how the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) applies to the use of AI.
• Undertaking research with Local Authorities to understand how and where they are using AI, and how they are applying their PSED in their use of AI. We have found that some local authorities are using AI to identify benefit fraud and calculate risk of, for example, homelessness. We have found some good practice in how local authorities consider equality when purchasing and using AI, but in other cases more can be done to ensure that the AI systems they use do not lead to discrimination. We have also found a lack of transparency in how AI systems work, limiting the ability of local authorities to consider the equality impact of such technologies.
• Considering the use of Facial Recognition in law enforcement and working with the police to understand how equality and human rights are considered in the use of this technology.
• Looking into the use of AI in recruitment practices, examining how the use of AI tools can lead to discrimination.
• Supporting the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation’s Fairness Innovation Challenge, alongside the Information Commissioner’s Office.

4. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is Great Britain’s national equality body and has been awarded an ‘A’ status as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) by the United Nations.
5. Our job is to help make Britain fairer. We do this by safeguarding and enforcing the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect.

Press contact details

For more press information contact the Commission's media office on:

0161 829 8102