The Need For A.I Policy and Regulation

Mason Vera Paine

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to make its way into the tech industry, with companies such as IBM using it to replace their employees and other sectors considering doing the same thing, it raises the question of whether we should be worried. Will Richmond-Coggan partner at Data Protection Law Firm breaks down the potential regulations and policy issues that come with AI.Visit Freeths.co.uk/people/Will-Richmond-Coggan for additional information about Will Richmond-CogganFollow Will on Twitter at: Twitter.com/Tech_Litig8orFollow Will on Linkedin at: Linkedin.com/in/WillRichmondCoggan https://masonverapaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/10.-Will-Richmond-Coggan-AI-Regulation.mp3 AI Regulation and Policy Transcription Announcer: Mason Vera Paine. Mason: Ai has become a major part of the tech industry, with companies such as IBM using it to replace their employees and other sectors considering doing the same thing. To date, no government has taken action against this technology, which raises the question, should we be concerned? Data protection law partner Will Richmond Coggin joins me to break down the regulations and policy issues with AI. Thanks for joining me, Will. 00:27 - Will Richmond: Oh, you're welcome. 00:28 - Mason: So AI, it's such a big thing right now, such an explosion. But do you think that right now that AI is going to stick around? 00:37 - Will Richmond: Definitely. We've seen a paradigm shift in the way in which AI has penetrated both popular consciousness but also the commercial world. The really big change this time is that you haven't got AI, which people are developing as an experiment to see what can be done. You've got AI with actual practical applications which is being deployed in real world environments and to solve real world problems. 1:08 - Mason: Now, you said that companies were experimenting with it. I know personally, one of the weirdest things that I saw with this experimentation was McDonald's. Mcdonald's is having its own server and you get to talk to it for a minute and then maybe a real person will come on and help you. Are there any other industries that it's strange to see AI in? 1:30 - Will Richmond: Yeah, I think it's certainly a bit of a risk at the moment for companies that are in the public service or customer service as their main model using AI because it's still a little unreliable and you definitely have those risks that the AI is going to say something unexpected or produce an output which damages your brand. That's one thing if it's an environment where people are tolerant of that mistake, but it's something where customers expect to be handled with a certain degree of courtesy, say, or to get correct answers first time to the problems that they're having. They probably don't want to feel like they're part of an experiment and they certainly don't want to be insulted or offended. I think that's probably one area that's surprising. The other is at the other end of the spectrum, which is where you've got AI being used for really complex, difficult decision making. For example, in the UK, there was an AI tool that was deployed by a local authority, so a local government body, to determine whether or not people that were receiving state benefits were potentially fraudulent, say, whether they were dishonestly claiming those. The AI wrongly identified large numbers of people as being high risk for fraud, and that resulted in them being accused wrongly and all sorts of unfortunate consequences on some of the most vulnerable people in society. 3:09 - Will Richmond: Again, it was surprising to see that being rushed so quickly into an area that could have such profound adverse impact. 3:16 - Mason: I actually find that to be really strange, and I'm glad you brought that up. This technology may not be new, but it definitely is unreliable. I believe there's even a lawsuit that is currently out there of radio host is suing the creators of ...