Should AI Be Regulated?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly prevalent part of our lives, from virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to self-driving cars. Although AI has the potential to revolutionise industries and improve our lives in countless ways, it also poses risks that many argue should be regulated to protect users.
What is AI?
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, decision-making, and understanding natural language.
AI involves the development of algorithms and computer programs that can learn and improve over time, allowing machines to perform complex tasks and make decisions without human intervention. It is a broad field encompassing various technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics.
What Risks Does AI Bring?
Privacy
AI algorithms learn from vast amounts of data containing personal information to help train them and make decisions. This makes them a target of cyberattacks, especially since AI is typically used within highly sensitive sectors such as finance and health. As a result, this has cultivated a new type of threat involving attackers that try to manipulate or understand the functionality of the AI.
This means that when AI systems are not adequately protected or are in the beginning stages of being developed, this data can be at risk of being stolen or leaked, potentially exposing sensitive information. For instance, ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, leaked user conversations and payment information so that they were visible to other users. In addition, normal cybersecurity risk prevention tactics may not be applicable to AI software, making it more difficult to stop sophisticated attacks.
Child Security
As AI technology evolves, it has become increasingly common for children to interact with AI-powered devices and services. These devices can capture data on their behaviour preferences, and personal information, which raises concerns about the potential misuse of child information. This can lead to digital bullying or grooming and more serious crimes such as exploitation or trafficking.
Extreme Speech Vs Censorship
AI algorithms can acknowledge and remove content that it deems offensive or inappropriate. However, this can result in the censorship of legitimate speech. The issue with AI such as ChatGPT which can produce coherent responses to any questions you ask it, making it easy for people to craft emails, articles, job applications, and even legal arguments, is that it can replace individual thoughts with AI-generated ideas. There are also concerns that AI could spread misinformation or generate fake news that people act on.
AI algorithms analyse large amounts of data to make predictions or decisions, but if the data used to train the AI model is biased or discriminatory, the resulting predictions or decisions can also be biased or discriminatory. As a result, AI has the potential to perpetuate or even amplify existing biases and discrimination, if not properly designed and monitored. So it has the potential to target particular groups or individuals, which can result in discrimination or the violation of their rights.
For instance, if an AI system is utilised for hiring and the data used to train it is biased towards certain demographics, this could result in discrimination or lead to individuals being unfairly excluded from job opportunities based on factors such as their race or gender.
Why is AI Hard to Regulate?
Regulating AI is a complex task for a few reasons. Firstly, AI is a rapidly evolving technology, making it difficult for regulators to keep up with the pace of development. Secondly, developers design AI systems to learn and adapt to new situations, making it difficult to anticipate their behaviour in advance. AI algorithms can be unclear making it challenging to understand how they arrive at their decisions or identify potential biases or errors.
“Another point to consider is that industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation rely on AI to improve their systems to be more efficient and effective. Therefore, it is important to strike a careful balance between regulation and hindering innovation and progress.”
Charlotte Gerrish of Gerrish Legal
Whilst it is challenging, it is still possible to regulate AI to a certain degree without stifling innovation or imposing unnecessary restrictions. It makes it all the more necessary for collaboration between policymakers, industry experts, and other stakeholders in developing effective AI regulations.
Why is AI Regulation Important?
AI regulation is important because as mentioned, there are potential risks that it poses to individuals and organisations who rely on it. AI can be highly beneficial in helping companies operate more efficiently, solving complex problems and developing life-changing systems, but we need to be able to trust it.
AI regulation can help mitigate the potential risks associated with the technology, such as ensuring that systems are reliable and protect against unintended consequences. By establishing clear guidelines and standards for the development and deployment of AI, regulation can help ensure that the technology benefits society as a whole. Therefore, regulation is essential to ensure people use it responsibly and ethically whilst promoting transparency and accountability.
What Does Regulation Look Like?
AI regulation looks different across the world. For instance, the European Union has proposed a new law called the Artificial Intelligence Act. It proposes to establish a regulatory framework for AI across the EU, promoting trust and transparency in the technology and giving developers and users clear requirements to follow.
The regulation includes several key provisions, such as stricter requirements for high-risk AI systems, like biometric identification systems and autonomous vehicles. There will be requirements to carry out conformity assessments and restrictions imposed on the types of AI systems they use (such as those that manipulate human behaviour), and requirements for transparency in the way the AI functions.
The Artificial Intelligence Act also includes significant fines for non-compliance, with penalties of up to 6% of a company's global revenue. It will require companies to undertake risk assessments and provide explanations of their AI systems' decision-making processes.
On the other hand, the UK has a pro-innovation approach to regulating AI. The focus is on promoting innovation and growth in the AI sector while addressing potential risks such as those to national security, mental health or physical harm, and ensuring that AI is developed and used responsibly and ethically. For instance, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has said that in the future, the UK will aim to use AI within the police, transport networks and climate scientists.
The UK aims to work with government bodies and businesses to introduce new legislation but does not want to rush into regulating AI and risk placing unnecessary burdens on companies that use it. As such, the government is looking to develop a regulatory framework that is context-specific, which allows regulators to weigh the risks of using AI against the costs of missing opportunities.
How Can Gerrish Legal Help?
Gerrish Legal is a dynamic digital law firm. We pride ourselves on giving high-quality and expert legal advice to our valued clients. We specialise in many aspects of digital law such as GDPR, data privacy, digital and technology law, commercial law, and intellectual property.
We give companies the support they need to successfully and confidently run their businesses whilst complying with legal regulations without the burdens of keeping up with ever-changing digital requirements.
We are here to help you, get in contact with us today for more information.