In response to the growing importance of algorithmic products in international trade, regional and international trade negotiations at the WTO and elsewhere are currently seeking to set down new rules regarding issues such as Intellectual Property and algorithmic transparency.
In order to try to avoid outcomes of the trade negotiations that inadvertently blocks algorithmic accountability, Ansgar is supporting Sanya Reid Smith of Third World Network in her efforts to brief trade negotiators on causes and consequences of algorithmic bias and the current status of regulatory and standards initiatives to address these issues.
5Rights report: ‘Digital Childhood: Addressing Childhood Development Milestones in the Digital Environment’
As of May 25th 2018 the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) has taken effect in the UK, supporting and supplementing the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
An important requirement in the DPA2018, going beyond the GDPR, is the inclusion of an Age Appropriate Design Code (section 123 of DPA2018) to provide guidance on the design standards that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will expect providers of online ‘Information Society Services’ (ISS), which are likely to be accessed by children, to meet.
The ICO is responsible for drafting the Code and has issued a call for evidence is the first stage of the consultation process.
On June 21st 2018, the KAISTInstitute for Artificial Intelligence, Fourth Industrial Revolution Center in Korea hosted a public forum discussion on “Taming Artificial Intelligence: Engineering, Ethics, and Policy to discuss the ethics of artificial intelligence technology development as well as policy making around the world.
On 16th April the House of Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence published a report called ‘AI in the UK: ready, willing and able?”. The report is based on an inquiry by the House of Lords conducted to consider the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in artificial intelligence. UnBias team member Ansgar Koene submitted written evidence based on the combined work of the UnBias investigations and our involvement with the development of the IEEE P7003 Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations.
In the spirit of recent events surrounding the revelations about Cambridge Analytica and the breaches of trust regarding Facebook and personal data, ISOC UK and the Horizon Digital Economy Research institute held a panel discussion on “Multi Sided Trust for Multi Sided Platforms“. The panel brought together representatives from different sectors to discuss the topic of trust on the Internet, focusing on consumer to business trust; how users trust online services that are offered to them. Such services include, but are not limited to, online shopping, social media, online banking and search engines.
On March 5th and 6th UnBias had the pleasure of participating in a workshop that was organized to signal the launch of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center’s HUMAINT (HUman behaviour and MAchine INTelligence ) project.
The HUMAINT project is a multidisciplinary research project that aims to understand the potential impact of machine intelligence on human behaviour. A particular focus of the project lies on human cognitive capabilities and decision making. The project recognizes that machine intelligence may provide cognitive help to people, but that algorithms can also affect personal decision making and raise privacy issues.
On September 14th the US ACM organized a panel on Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability in Washington DC to discuss the importance of the Statement on Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability and opportunities for cooperation between academia, government and industry around these principles. Also part of this panel was Ansgar, representing the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethical Considerations for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, its P7000 series of Standards activities, and UnBias.
USACM, the ACM U.S. Public Policy Council, will be hosting a panel event on “Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability.” The event will provide a forum for a discussion between stakeholders and leading computer scientists about the growing impact of algorithmic decision-making on our society and the technical underpinnings of algorithmic models.
Prior to the June 8th snap election there were two Commons Select Committee inquiries that both touched directly on our work at UnBias and for which we submitted written evidence. One on “Algorithms in decision-making” and another on “Fake News”.
It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2nd UnBias stakeholder workshop this June 19th (2017) at the Wellcome Collection in London, UK.
In this workshop we will build on the outcomes of the previous workshop, moving from the exploration of issues to a focus on solutions.
Aims of stakeholder workshops Our UnBias stakeholder workshops bring together individuals from a range of professional backgrounds who are likely to have differing perspectives on issues of fairness in relation to algorithmic practices and algorithmic design. The workshops are opportunities to share perspectives and seek answers to key project questions such as:
What constitutes a fair algorithm?
What kinds of (legal and ethical) responsibilities do internet companies have to ensure their algorithms produce results that are fair and without bias?
What factors might serve to enhance users’ awareness of, and trust in, the role of algorithms in their online experience?
How might concepts of fairness be built into algorithmic design?
The workshop discussions will be summarised in written reports and will be used to inform other activities in the project. This includes the production of policy recommendations and the development of a fairness toolkit consisting of three co-designed tools 1) a consciousness raising tool for young internet users to help them understand online environments; 2) an empowerment tool to help users navigate through online environments; 3) an empathy tool for online providers and other stakeholders to help them understand the concerns and rights of (young) internet users.
Structure of the 2nd stakeholders workshop The workshop will consist of two parts.
In the first part we will present a challenge to choose which out of four possible algorithms is most fair for a limited resources allocation task. We will do this under two transparency conditions: 1. when only observations of outcomes are known; 2. when the rational behind the algorithm is know. we will conclude this part with a discussion about the reasoning behind our algorithm choices.
Having been primed with some of the challenges for designing fair algorithmic decision systems, the second part will explore ideas and frameworks for an ’empathy’ tool to help algorithmic system designers identify possible sources of bias in their system design.
Workshop schedule:
12:00-1:00pm Lunch/informal networking
1:00 – 1:15 Brief introduction with update about the UnBias project & outline of the workshop
Privacy/confidentiality and data protection
All the workshops will be audio recorded and transcribed. This in order to facilitate our analysis and ensure that we capture all the detail of what is discussed. We will remove or pseudonymise the names of participating individuals and organisations as well as other potentially identifying details. We will not reveal the identities of any participants (except at the workshops themselves) unless we are given explicit permission to do so. We will also ask all participants to observe the Chatham House rule – meaning that views expressed can be reported back elsewhere but that individual names and affiliations cannot.
Emancipating Users Against Algorithmic Biases for a Trusted Digital Economy
